Monster Energy Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales said that he is happy and believes he has ‘very strong rhythm’ on the hard Michelin rear tyre ahead of the final race of the MotoGP season in Valencia.
The Spaniard has shown superb pace in race simulation runs through free practice and was pinpointed by Marc Marquez as the biggest challenger to the World Champion with regards to the race win.
Despite his superb free practice pace, Vinales wasn’t able to qualify on the front row, instead having to settle for fourth place, 0.092 seconds behind third placed Jack Miller. Even after missing out on the front row, Vinales said he is happy, in no small part due to his race pace.
“I'm actually happy, because this morning I didn't feel really good, but then in the afternoon we made some changes on the bike and we improved a lot, and that is the most important,” said the 24-year-old.
“I feel that I have a very strong rhythm, especially with the hard tyre. But then in qualifying, already straight away, I felt a drop in the second front tyre and then we didn't have any more new front tyres.
“So, I did the best I could do, but for sure we could have done better.”
When asked what he could do from the second row, Vinales said: “I don't know if I can go for the win, it all depends on the start, but I think it will be possible to be on the podium.”
