The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team continued their search for the optimal setting for their YZR-M1s this afternoon, ahead of Sunday‘s Grand Prix of Styria. Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi ended a full-on Friday in 8th and 13th place respectively in the combined rankings.
After a productive FP1 session, Viñales was looking forward to trying some further setting tweaks to shave off a couple more tenths of a second per lap at the challenging Spielberg track in the afternoon. He worked diligently on getting his bike race-ready until the final stages of the session, when he went all out to earn himself a provisional place in Q2. Riding with a soft rear tyre, he produced a 1‘24.060s on his very last lap, taking fifth in FP2, 0.422s from the top. His best time earned him eighth position in the combined free practice results.
Rossi spent the majority of the afternoon session on improving his pace, though the track conditions were significantly warmer than they were this morning. He was in 10th position in the final seven minutes when he had a soft rear tyre fitted on his Yamaha, but the competition was fierce. He dropped a 1‘24.433s for 11th place in FP2 and crossed the line with 2 seconds left on the clock. He made his last lap count, setting four personal-best sectors for a 1‘24.378s and ninth place, 0.740s from the top. However, as some riders had clocked a faster morning time, The Doctor is 13th in the combined free practice timesheets.