MotoGP: Yamaha duo put positive spin on difficult day

The Yamaha MotoGP duo of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales have put a positive spin on the opening day of action at the Czech Grand Prix, despite the pair finishing a distant 14^th and 11^th respectively in the timing sheets.

However, despite the poor showing at the end of the day, Rossi was keen to pick out the positives, especially in the morning’s wet session.

“It was a difficult day, but I had some good feelings. I’m happy about free practice one 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, inside the top five isn’t so bad.

“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 tyre 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.”

Viñales was more circumspect, however, admitting afterwards that while the wet track time was positive, they’ve got a lot of work to do in the dry.

“This morning was a good session. I feel quite good on the wet, though there are still some parts to improve, but honestly, I was feeling quite comfortable on the bike. This 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.”