Maverick Vinales has admitted he is surprised with his free practice pace after the opening day of MotoGP free practice in Buriram.
The Spaniard hasn’t found himself on the podium in the last five races and struggled to tenth place last time out in Aragon. However, the factory Yamaha man appears to have found something in Thailand ending the first day fastest in FP1 and just 0.038 seconds behind Andrea Dovizioso in FP2.
Vinales admitted his Friday pace was a surprise to him, saying they found something they should’ve tried ‘months ago’.
"Well, actually a surprise, but anyway we try some things that we should have tried many months ago,” said the 23-year-old
"The work has been done well. I'm actually happy, as I said, sometimes the work wasn't good, but today it was good, really good. We did good work from FP1 to FP2. Made good changes and I can ride very precise.
“We worked on the weight balance, which was very important today to improve a little bit the braking, a little bit the acceleration and finally we did it."
As well as it providing some much needed confidence on the first day of the now four flyaway races, Vinales also said that it was an important test ahead of 2019.
“It’s important, this test, for 2019 and I am actually happy and pleased with the result of today and let's see tomorrow,” he said.