Factory Monster Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Vinales said a breakthrough in FP4 helped him find the missing rear grip ahead of qualifying, in which he qualified in the middle of the front row, behind Marc Marquez in Argentina.

The Spaniard had complained about a lack of rear grip after the opening day of free practice at Termas de Rio Hondo, but the factory Yamaha man revealed a breakthrough in FP4 helped him find the missing rear grip.

“We had some issues on Friday, I couldn’t be very strong – I don’t know why we struggled a lot more than in Qatar, especially in the rear grip,” said the 24-year-old.

“But we made some good steps forwards, especially in FP4 I felt much better.

We need to continue to working as I think at the moment our competitors are on a better level, especially in the electronics so we need to keep working, facing down and pushing. Let’s see tomorrow, but I think we also have some way to improve and see if we can be stronger tomorrow.”

After qualifying in pole position at the season opener in Qatar, Vinales struggled in the race, admitting that he was struggling whilst racing closely with other riders.

With this in mind, Vinales made a concerted effort to practice riding closer to other riders in the free practice sessions to prepare him.

“I feel much better on hard breaking,” he said. “We are using quite different set ups, so I felt good to overtake.

“I will push, I will be at my maximum on my first laps, then we will see what happens. But for sure I will try to be there, in the front, fighting for the race and lets see what we can do.”

With rain forecast for tomorrow, Vinales was asked if the rain would help or hinder his chances come tomorrow, he said: “I don’t know because I haven’t tried the bike in the wet yet. In Valencia we showed good potential in the wet, so lets see if we can be strong as we were in Valencia, where we were running quite fast. I’m curious in the wet the bike is good enough.”