Source: Supplied.

Movistar Yamaha duo Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi have two new frames to test at Catalunya this week, with both able to sample the first option during Monday’s official session.

After a difficult grand prix weekend Viñales set the second fastest lap-time with a 1m44.437s – quicker than his qualifying time – and Rossi ended up P10 overall in the test.

“We tried many things today, many new set-ups and some different settings on the bike and I was feeling comfortable all day,” Viñales said. “I’ve been riding well, riding with a lot of confidence on the YZR-M1, so for me it was a good day. Overall for the test the feeling was really good, in the afternoon it was better with the very hot conditions and we completed many laps in the 45s and then 46s, so I was quite happy.”

Rossi explained: “It was a good day of testing because we had a lot of interesting items to try from the Yamaha side and I think it was a positive day because we have learnt a lot about the bike and where we can improve. At the end, the feeling was better even if we have not yet solved all the problems. Tomorrow we will have another day, with some further test items so we will try to continue the work.”

Following the progress booked today, the Movistar Yamaha team has decided to stay at the Barcelona circuit for one further day to conduct a private test. On Tuesday Viñales and Rossi will switch frames for further development purposes.