Four months may have elapsed since Maverick Vinales completed a dominant showing during pre-season testing bu🍬t the Spaniard was right back at the sharp end as MotoGP hit the track again ah꧃ead of the Spanish MotoGP 2020 opener this weekend.

With Yamaha seemingly making a notable step forward over the winter –🔯 especially in the ‘top speed’ area it’s often weakest – Vinales headed into the original season touted as the rider most likely to challenge Marc Marquez for honours in 2020.

Though the ensuing break means tꦫhere is little to read into testing ahead this weekend’s Jerez event, Vinales still made his mark by putting his name on top of the timesh♒eets once again.

“Very happy to be back,” he said. “It’s very nice to ride my M1 again as it’s always very exciting. We have been working hard especially thinking about t𒁃he race, that was our main goal today. We tried to see how the bike works in these incredibly high temperatures, and we are surprised that our level is so high. So, I’m really looking forward to the weekend as I felt really g𓃲ood on the bike, and that’s very important.

While Vinales and Yamaha’s form fluctuated in 2019, the pairing looked♎ a more reliable pairing by the season’s end, which coupled to such an impressive performance in testing means he is raising the bar for hi🔥s home race this weekend.

“The bike is in perfect shape, and now we have to get the most out of it. I'm feeling happy and confident for this weekend. Last year's bike was also w🌳orking well here, but this year I can attack the corners in a diffe🅰rent way by braking very hard, which will give me an advantage when I overtake.

“But we need to make an💮other improvement in that area, that will be my main focus this weekend, because this track is n🍃ot easy.”