Assertive Start for Movistar Yamaha in Austin

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team showed competitive form on the first day of the Grand Prix of The Americas. Maverick Viñales rode his YZR-M1 to the top of the FP1 time sheet and secured third place in the afternoon session. Valentino Rossi took a little bit more time to get a feel for the Circuit of The Americas (COTA), ultimately wrapping up the day in fourth place in the combined standings.True to his usual form, Viñales‘ name was found at the top of the standings early on in the first 45-minute free practice session, with a 2'06.515s lap. Feeling completely comfortable in the balmy weather conditions, he was the only rider to dive under the 2'05s mark when he improved this time by more than a 1.5s, taking first place with a best lap of 2'04.923s, 0.577s ahead of his closest rival.The afternoon saw more of the same from the young Spaniard. He gradually built up speed to top the timesheets, dropping a 2'04.451s lap using a race set-up. His time remained unchallenged until the final minutes of the session when a flurry of activity saw him get pushed back to third in the combined practice times and end the day 0.390s from first. Maverick Viñales - 3rd, 2'04.451 / 17 LAPS Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team I'm really happy, we were working really hard for the race. We are quite confident, I know we can do a very good job. I'm working good, I'm working hard on the bike, I feel that I'm on a good level. We still have to work on the electronics in many places. I'm feeling great, that is something important. We were focusing on ourselves. We're doing a good job all the time, we are trying to improve step by step. Important for us is working for the race, preparing for the last ten laps, because that's where we can improve Massimo Meregalli Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director Today was definitely a very positive start to our weekend at COTA; surely the best start ever since our first race here in Austin. Even more so if we consider that Maverick did his best lap time on a race set-up bike! Both riders are pretty satisfied with their bikes‘ set-up, although we believe there‘s a big margin for improvement tomorrow. Let‘s say our riders have given us more than one reason to be confident for Sunday. Today we tested several tyre specs with good feedback both about lap times and wear. Tomorrow we‘ll continue this work and we‘ll decide which configuration is best for the race.