The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team continued their search for the optimal race configuration with the wind picking up at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this afternoon. Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi made further amendments to their YZR-M1s‘ settings in FP2, ahead of Sunday‘s Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, and ended the Friday in 4th and 10th place respectively in the combined timesheets.
Viñales continued to fine-tune his bike‘s set-up in the afternoon, spending 40 minutes on getting it in perfect shape for Sunday‘s race. In the final five minutes of the session, he returned to the box for some fresh tyres to book himself a provisional place in Q2. Clocking a 1‘40.208s on lap 20/20, he secured fourth in the FP2 and combined FP rankings, with a 0.419s margin to first.
Rossi also had a busy afternoon schedule getting his bike to adjust to the lower grip levels of the Barcelona circuit. Once he was satisfied with his feeling out on track, he put in an early mini time attack, setting a 1‘40.575s that initially put him in second place, just 0.002s from first. As the pace heated up, The Doctor gave it another go and produced a 1‘40.502s on lap 19/21 for ninth place, 0.713s from the top. However, as one rider had set a faster morning time, the Italian is tenth in the combined free practice results.