Rossi and Viñales positive after opening day

Both the Movistar Yamaha riders consolidated their positions in the top 10 on Friday

Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) finished the day in P6 and P7 respectively, and both riders are remaining positive despite being over a second off Marc Marquez’s (Repsol Honda Team) pace.

“My feelings today have been mixed,” says Viñales. “I felt quite confident on the bike this morning, but honestly, I didn‘t feel the same way in the afternoon. I was happy that, in the end, I provisionally qualified for Q2 in FP2, because it was difficult. Tomorrow, if it rains, it would have been tricky to get inside the top ten.”

The two were separated by just 0.067 seconds at the end of the day, with Rossi particularly upbeat about his pace on the harder compound tyre.

“The main target was to stay in the top 10 because the weather is very difficult to predict,” the ‘Doctor’ began. “I’m quite happy with my pace on the hard tyres because I feel confident with the bike. Unfortunately, I put the soft on at the end but I wasn’t able to improve like I expect because with the soft tyre I don’t feel very good.”

With the real possibility of rain tomorrow, will the two Factory Yamaha riders be able to push for pole position? They head out for FP3 at 10:55 (GMT -3), with Q1 getting underway at 15:10 (GMT -3).