Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi had to deal with rain on the second day of 2020 pre-season testing at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto, but they didn‘t let it dampen their spirits. The team-mates both beamed about the progress they made with the protype and new testing items and completed the Jerez Test in 1st and 11th place respectively in the combined Day 1-2 rankings.
Viñales had already adapted his testing style this year: riding less laps but going all out whilst focusing on tweaking specific areas rather than putting in as much laps as possible trying various changes at once. Unfortunately, due to today‘s rain, the test was wrapped up early. The conditions forced the Spaniard to be even more strict in choosing his priorities. He completed 15 laps and posted a best time of 1’37.964s on lap 9. This put him fourth in the Day-2 timesheets, 0.144s from first. His superb 1‘37.131s lap from yesterday kept him firmly in first place in the overall timesheets, with a 0.689s margin over second place.
Rossi set out in Jerez today to make a detailed comparison between the old and the new bike. He was quickly up to speed, but soon the rain spoiled his plans. The Doctor used the wet track conditions in the afternoon to his advantage to work with the new testing items in the cold and wet. He completed 33 laps in total. His best time was a 1’38.352s, 0.407s faster than his best from yesterday and set on only his tenth lap of the day. This put him in 10th place in today’s standings, 0.532s from first, and in 11th position in the combined results, 1.221s from the top.
