Maverick Viñales and Team Calvo get off to a flying start in Malaysia

The fastest time on this first day of free practice sessions of the Malaysian GP was set by Team Calvo’s Maverick Viñales.

The rider from Roses steadily built his confidence with the bike and recorded the best time in the first session. In the afternoon the track was wet to start with, and even though the track dried off during the session and the riders could go out on dry tyres, no one could improve Maverick’s fastest time. Rain and heat are always protagonists in Sepang, and the weekend forecast isn’t very promising.

For Ana Carrasco this was the first contact with the Sepang circuit, one of the most complicated in the calendar, as much due to heat and humidity as well as the technical aspects of the track. But the Team Calvo rider has been gaining confidence – coming 21st in FP2 and 27th in the combined times – and hopes she can advance further tomorrow.

#25 Maverick Viñales – 1st place – 2.14.961 / @maverickmack25
I’m happy because we had some great feeling this morning in the dry with the track and the bike. In the afternoon in the wet I also felt comfortable, and even though the track dried off and we could go out on dry tyres, I didn’t want to push too much because it wouldn’t have made much sense. There’s no need for the extra risk. The most beneficial today was the morning’s session where we found a good base setup on which we can continue to work tomorrow.

#22 Ana Carrasco – 27th place – 2.17.822 / @AnaCarrasco_22
The circuit is really quite difficult and therefor, considering it’s the first day and the conditions haven’t been the best, I’m more or less happy. At the beginning I struggled a lot, and the start of the second session wasn’t really any help because it was neither wet nor dry. This didn’t really allow us to draw many conclusions. In the end I was able to do some laps in the dry and the times were quite good. But tomorrow we’ll have to put more work into this, especially on the feeling for the track.

Pablo Nieto (Team Director) / @pablonieto22
The day has been a bit strange due to the weather conditions and really only the morning was of any use to us, and Maverick could post the fastest lap time. The afternoon started in the wet, then it dried off, but it helped to build the confidence. Maverick did what he had to without taking any additional risks. Anan did very well on her first day at such a complicated circuit, she finished 21st in the afternoon. She’ll have to continue in this way, I believe it’s a very positive start.

Source: Team Calvo