Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales believes he could have got even closer to the Sepang outright lap record had he been out on a soft rear Michelin but had to settle for setting the quickest lap of the test instead.

The new Spanish wunderkind set a 1’59.368 to leave Malaysia with full bragging rights but also put in nine other 1’59s laps today, six more than Marc Marquez in second place meaning that in race trim, Vinales was the most settled and comfortable man out there.

“I’m really happy. We’ve done a great job. The laptime was good. I think I could have improved quite a bit, but in terms of pace we are among the best and I’m really happy. We have a good package for Australia,” said Vinales, speaking at the track.

“I was on the hard tyre and maybe I pushed too hard and went wide, but I was already improving and maybe with the softs I could have improved more. In any case, the race is in Qatar so we’ll have to give it all there.”