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Rossi praises Vinales for "huge laptime" in Valencia test

Valentino Rossi says he was impressed with new teammate Maverick Vinales' Yamaha test debut in Valencia, dubbing the Spaniard's Wednesday benchmark a "huge laptime".

Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing

Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing

Vinales, who joins Yamaha after two years with Suzuki, spent the two post-season test days at Valencia riding the 2016-spec M1 bike.

The Spaniard was quickest on Tuesday by 0.020s over Rossi - and then set the overall best time of the test on Wednesday with a 1m29.975s.

"He was quite impressive already from yesterday, and today also more," Rossi said of his newcomer teammate.

"He was able to do a [1m]29[s], that's a huge laptime.

"I think it was a great debut for him."

Yamaha has "a lot of work" to do

While VInales spent the test adapting to Yamaha on a 2016-spec bike, Rossi trialled several configurations to assess the progress made for next year.

"Today we worked more, we did a lot of laps - and it was good work. We compared a lot the new bike with the old bike, the new engine with the new chassis also together," Rossi said.

"We have a lot of work [to do], for sure, especially about the engine, but also about the chassis.

"The first feeling is good, but we need something different in the setting, we need a little bit more time to understand the balance.

"We have to concentrate on the engine, the acceleration, try to have a good exit from the corner."

Asked whether he saw any improvement in the engine compared to Tuesday - when Rossi had dubbed it "not fantastic" - he said: "The feeling is very similar [to Tuesday]. It's just the first step but the first impression is [it's] not a huge improvement. We need to work."

Additional reporting by Matteo Nugnes

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