Positive start for Vinales despite crashes

Maverick Vinales crashed twice on the opening night of the Qatar test and while it cost him track time he was upbeat afterwards as he assessed his day and looked forward to another two days of testing to conclude the winter.

Qatar is a very different track to Sepang and when speaking about his crashes Vinales cited the cooler conditions as being a factor in losing the front but overall he was pleased with the progress that Suzuki has made with their electronics development:

“Compared to Sepang it’s very different because it’s colder and a strange track for the front tyre,” said Vinales. “We had two small crashes where I lost the feeling in the front. We had some areas that we improved because we had new electronics for this week. The Traction Control is now working very well. If we didn’t have those two crashes for sure we would have been closer to the top than in Malaysia but I think that we feel OK and for tomorrow it won’t be a problem.”

Vinales was not the only rider to complain about the track conditions and a lack of feeling from the tyres with Pol Espargaro and Jorge Lorenzo both struggling for feeling.