Maverick Vinales was left bemused after encountering numerous issues with his Yamaha which left him outside of the top 10 on the combined times in Friday practice for the Czech Grand Prix.
Vinales has endured a tough time of late, a switch to a new chassis at the Dutch TT – brought in after Yamaha’s slump in form in hot conditions in Barcelona and Jerez – not allowing him to ride the bike the way he wants.
Crashing out of the race at Assen as a result, his fortunes failed to improve a week later in Germany, with a poor qualifying in wet conditions forcing him to fight through to fourth on Sunday.
Typically struggling this year in the wet, Vinales was pleased with the feeling his Yamaha gave him in the soaked first session, in which he was sixth fastest.
Vinales’ form did not continue into the dry second session, however, the Spaniard struggling for pace down in 11th and unsure as to what the cause of his issues are.
“This morning was a good session,” said Vinales, who was almost a second off of pacesetter Andrea Dovizioso on Friday.
“I felt quite good on the wet, though there are still some parts to improve, but honestly, I was feeling quite comfortable on the bike.
“The afternoon was really difficult, I never felt like that on the Yamaha before, so we have to understand which area is the problem.
“We need to solve these issues and try to work even harder. We really don’t know which area is causing the problem; if we knew we would improve it.
“The bike is not working at its 100% and we have to try to find out why.”
Rossi not concerned despite low-key showing on Friday
Seven-times Brno winner Valentino Rossi ends the first day of running at the Czech circuit relatively pleased with his pace, though admits there is work to do after a tough afternoon session.
After finishing the wet first session fifth, Rossi faced a slightly tougher 45 minutes of running in the afternoon.
An issue with one of his bikes meant he had to change his session plan, and this meant he was unable to conduct a time attack on the soft tyre in the closing stages.
This left him down in 14th on the timesheets on a 1m57.396s, though he remains optimistic of pulling himself up the order on Saturday even if he is not totally happy with balance of the bike at this stage.
“It was a difficult day, but I had some good feelings,” said Rossi, who lies 4th in the standings and 10 points off of championship leader Marc Marquez ahead of Sunday’s 22-lap race.
“I’m happy about FP1 in the wet, because this year we always suffered, but this morning I was strong and not so bad considering the pace.
“I was able to ride the bike quite well, so I had a good feeling and finished in fifth position.
“The afternoon was a bit more difficult, because there were mixed conditions. I think it wasn’t so bad, in the sense that I’m behind, but I didn’t put in the soft rear at the end.
“I had a problem with one bike, so I had to stop and when I restarted with the other one I preferred to continue with the medium tyre.
“At the end my position is bad, but if I put in the soft tyre I think I can be more in front.
“It’s just the first day. We have to work, especially the balance of the bike is not OK, but the feeling is quite good.”
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