Maverick Vinales says his right knee was hurting in MotoGP Americas Grand Prix practice, which he says is a legacy of his Argentina tangle with Franco Morbidelli.
Vinales was battling fellow Yamaha runner Morbidelli for sixth in the latter stages of the Argentina race, when the Sepang Racing Team rider collided with him at Turn 7 on the final lap.
The works Yamaha man brushed off the clash as a racing incident, though has encountered some pain in his knee as a result of the crash, “especially in right-handers” at the Circuit of the Americas.
Despite this, Vinales was just 0.078 seconds outside of Marc Marquez in second in FP1, before topping the afternoon session on Friday by 0.044s.
“I felt quite good, though my knee hurts from the fall in Argentina, especially in the right-handers,” Vinales said after FP1.
“I think I can deal with it during the weekend, and Sunday [it] will be much better.
“I'm happy, because I feel confident and the bike is working well. I felt a lot of movement out on track, but I was already good from the first laps.
“Let's see what we can do this weekend, but I'm feeling positive, and I'm hoping for a good GP.”
Vinales admits Yamaha “misunderstood many things” about the bike during practice in Argentina, and focused on the “basic set-up” of the M1 on Friday in Texas to avoid a repeat.
While happy with his pace on Friday, he says he still has to be more “precise”, and is seeking more rear grip.
“I think today was very important to work with the bike, to work on the basic set-up because in Argentina we misunderstood many things,” he told motogp.com after FP2.
“So I think we work very well. We tried to be very competitive, especially on the first laps, but still we have to improve.
“We have to be more precise on the first laps, I need a bit more grip, especially on the rear because I didn't feel at the best.”
With rain forecast for Saturday's third practice, Vinales knew it would be “important” to finish in the top 10 in FP2, and is “expecting” to be competitive in wet conditions having bagged pole in a soaked Valencia qualifying at the end of last year.
“I'm expecting to be fast, honestly,” he added.
“In Valencia I finished in the top in the wet, it's true that I crashed [in the race], but I was one of the fastest on the track.
“I had a good feeling; when you have a good feeling, it doesn't matter the position [you finish].”
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