Vinales: Nothing incredible, we must keep improving

Maverick Vinales has conceded his Jerez test was largely fruitless with no breakthroughs on Yamaha’s rear tyre traction issues which has plagued its performance.

Having secured his maiden premier class podium at the Spanish MotoGP on Sunday, Vinales returned to action at the Jerez test focusing mostly on his race pace and a solution to its rear tyre traction problem.

Vinales ended the test fifth fastest with a best lap of 1m 37.226s, thanks to a late time attack, but says he was unable to achieve the main object of the test.

“We tested many items but nothing incredible so we have to keep working to try to find something,” Vinales said. “I did a lot of laps on race tyres which is not bad. I rode quite good at race distance but anyway we need to keep improving.

“Unfortunately there we didn’t find anything, we tried other things, so we need to keep working.

“Le Mans is a track where the grip is quite good so on that track I am not worried about the grip. It is a good track for me so now my mind is there in Le Mans trying to be more competitive as I was here in Jerez.

“The level of the bike was the same as the race and the weekend. We didn’t make any steps completely. We tried many things and had positives and negatives like always but nothing special.”

Despite not discovering the gains he’d hoped for with his Monster Yamaha, the Spanish rider says he’s not concerned the issue will jeopardise his own performance at the upcoming races.

“I am not worried because as I said on race pace I was there and close to the top,” he said. “There is a lot of things to improve especially from my side, for my riding style, so we need to keep working and trying to find something better, especially in traction area.”