Maverick Vinales “too sideways” before crash, but “able to fight at the front” in French MotoGP

Maverick Vinales recovered from a Friday crash to finish eighth on the practice timesheets for the French MotoGP, securing direct passage into Qualifying 2 for the home Tech3 KTM team.

The Spaniard had picked up where he left off after a fourth place at Jerez and then second at the post-race test by being just 0.005s behind Marc Marquez at the time of his front-end crash.

“It was a good Friday, already from FP1. I'm happy with the rhythm. Still, we need to adjust a little bit more the bike. I'm a little bit too sideways in some parts of the track and that's the reason why I crashed,” Vinales told MotoGP.com.

Quick to rejoin on his spare RC16, Vinales managed to improve on his earlier best to end the session directly behind fellow KTM rider Pedro Acosta.

But it was his race pace that gave Vinales the greatest confidence heading into Saturday’s Sprint.

Told that Francesco Bagnaia had tipped Vinales and Fabio Quartararo to be in podium contention tomorrow, the former Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia race winner replied:

“Yes, I feel today on paper we were very fast on the rhythm. We need a little bit more for one lap, but we know what we need to adjust for tomorrow. I feel quite confident that on terms of rhythm I'm able to fight at the front,” said Vinales, the only KTM rider to lead a race this season, in Qatar.

Still in the early stages of adapting to the RC16 after switching from Aprilia, Vinales insists the bike is finally starting to feel like his own: “As you see today, I’m still understanding the bike, I'm learning the limits, so still there is a long way to go but we are on a good level.”

A place on the front two rows is his goal for qualifying, but otherwise Vinales insists he remains focused on fine-tuning.

“I will try for sure I will push at the maximum of the bike, at the maximum of everything. We will see where we are, but anyway, I don't look too much to the position. I'm looking to the feelings and the feelings are good.”

Team-mate Enea Bastianini again missed out on an automatic Q2 spot, finishing 13th.

“Today was a positive day, during which we improved lap by lap, and I feel satisfied with our progression… Every track this year is a reset for me because the KTM behaves differently from what I was used to in the past, but we are working on it.”