Maverick Viñales knows what his goals are towards these two days of tests at Qatar, with a big decision to be madeon which aero package he will have, and a very specific work at the starts.
Before the start of these last days of tests before the championship gets underway, the rider spoke about what he will be working on more than anything:
– For me, of course, the team has some focus and I have some others, obviously we both want to be as ready as we can. The aerodynamics is very important and we need to make a decision to have a package because we need to homologate so this is the biggest thing we have to do. For the rest I think the bike is working really well and I just need to work a bit on the settings, engine break and electronics because it seems very different from last year but that is just a mapping so that’s easy, something we can do during the weekend. For me it is very important the starts. We didn’t improve so that’s the target on my side, the biggest of this Qatar test, to end it with a good feeling on the starts.
About the work that has to be done regarding the aero package, Viñales said straight away: ‘Two days, it’s checking what you like or what you don’t like. One thing I like from Qatar is that it’s going to be windy, put things more in crisis, everything, and that is really good’.
If all 2024 bikes will end with the same packages, the spaniard said: ‘I don’t think so because it depends a lot on how you ride the bike. Probably me and Miguel [Oliveira] will go very similar, Aleix [Espargaró] will go different, but we will see. Honestly I don’t know, we are free to choose so I don’t know’.
Highlighting again the starts, the #12 was clear: ‘We need to improve. We start well but we know how important it is when you get to the first corner in first or second, so for me it’s the priority and is on myself after that. It’s on the bike, we need to improve the bike and work on it. We have to make a step’.