Vinales: Riding style breakthrough enabled Misano pole
Misano MotoGP pole-sitter Maverick Vinales said a "really important" improvement in his riding style helped him to be fastest in qualifying.
Vinales, who put an end to his recent poor form by taking a close second at Silverstone with Yamaha's newly-introduced 2018 prototype bike, has continued his resurgence at Misano so far.
With Valentino Rossi unable to participate, Vinales had both of the available new Yamaha frames equipped to his bikes, and the Spaniard went on to take his first pole in seven rounds.
Vinales explained that he had a different riding style compared to Silverstone and that he made a "really important" improvement.
Vinales said: "I knew if I was riding well the Yamaha, I could try to make the pole, same as Silverstone.
"In Silverstone I was riding in my way, be aggressive, try to make the laptime, today I tried to ride smooth, be careful on the gas.
"I think we found something to improve, especially on the riding style, and it's something really important.
"But the bike is improving race by race. I'm happy that still we have room to improve. Honestly, thanks to the team because they did a great job today.
"Today the bike was working really good, especially on FP4, I was happy with how the bike was going."
Crashing Marquez "happy" with third
Vinales put an end to Marc Marquez's four-pole streak at Misano, but the latter insisted he was "happy" about taking third in qualifying.
The Honda rider secured a spot on the front row despite a crash, caused by the reigning champion running slightly wide during the final minutes of qualifying at the fast Turn 13 left-hander.
"I believed to fight for the pole, with the first tyre I felt good, with the second tyre I was feeling even better," said Marquez.
"But I touched the red part [of the tarmac], I was a little bit wide and I expect, okay, situation under control. But then as soon as I touched the white line I lost the front.
"But apart from that, [I'm] happy, because I'm feeling good with the bike. Looks like we have a similar pace compared to Maverick and Andrea [Dovizioso] and tomorrow it will be a tight race.
"In FP3 I felt really good, maybe in FP4 with more temperature I struggled a little bit more, but tomorrow it looks like will be colder conditions, this will help me. But even like this with the used tyres the rhythm was good."
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