Vinales certain of single-lap speed, will focus on race pace

Vinales, who has moved to Yamaha from Suzuki, has taken well to his new team, producing strong performances in 2016 post-season testing.

The trend continued on the first-day of pre-season testing at Sepang, as the Spaniard headed the Yamaha contingent in third, four tenths slower than pacesetter Casey Stoner.

“We were focusing on the race pace,” Vinales said. “It's important to be strong at the end, so [we ran] with quite old tyres all the time. This test we want to focus on that, get a good package and bring something good for [the next test in] Australia.

“Marc in Valencia did quite a long run, and all the time in the fast laps. In practice - and also in the race, in the second part of the race in Valencia it was really good for Marc.

“So we want to work there and we don't be want to get surprised in that area. We want to be ready, all the time.

“For one lap, we know we have the speed. But we need to up the speed for 20 laps. We need to work on that and we are doing a good job. Today I was feeling good, I did three sets, I think, and I did 23 laps on each set.”

Vinales said he felt more at ease focusing on the race because he already knew he was capable of putting together a strong lap: “When you know one lap you can go fast, you know you can do the laptime, then you can focus on the important thing - the race.”

The Spaniard also reckoned he was already at the same level with Yamaha at Sepang as he had been with Suzuki.

“This track for the Suzuki was really good," he added. "I remember in FP3 I already had the first position, in the warm-up, in the dry, I did first position. So this track for the Suzuki really good, long corners, speed.

“But anyway, you know, with the Yamaha you can ride all the time fast. 20 laps, you can go fast. So what I feel is that still we have a lot of potential and I'm feeling already in the same level than I was last year.“

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont