Vinales fastest, keeping head down

Maverick Vinales continued the momentum from his strong early showing in the Barcelona race - before being taken down by Jorge Lorenzo - and fastest lap time at the following test, by again ruling the timesheets on day one of the Dutch MotoGP at Assen.

The Monster Yamaha rider was a fraction behind Petronas rider Fabio Quartararo in FP1, then turned the tables on the impressive French rookie in FP2, when Vinales lapped just a fraction off the official circuit record.

That was on new soft tyres but he had also been fastest on numerous occasions earlier in the session while using the medium and hard rears, plus medium front.

"The feeling I have is pretty similar to Montmeló. I think I've made some improvements regarding my riding style, and I'm taking a bit of profit from it here in Assen," said Vinales, who was 0.077s quicker than Quartararo.

"I don't know if it's the Yamaha here or that I'm riding a bit better than usual, but I feel good and confident.

"But anyway it's just Friday. We are keeping our heads down and working very hard for the race because some riders are very fast. It's very important to get a good result and create good momentum, so we are going to try our best.

"We're pushing. We know the bike needs to improve in some areas, so we're going to try to do that tomorrow. The consistency is very important but our main focus to improve is the race and the first laps, so I'm going to do the same as I did in Catalunya and see if it works again on Sunday.

"Let's see what we can do, but anyway it has been a good day. Even in the hot conditions I felt good on the bike with hard tyres, which means the bike is working well."

Team-mate Valentino Rossi was ninth quickest (+0.879s).