The Spaniard was second behind only Fabio Quartararo in what would prov📖e to♚ be the final dry session of the weekend, setting his best time on the twelfth and final lap after staying on the same tyres for the entire warm-up session.

A torrential downpour then delayed the race and, having qualified just 19th, Vinales struggled for vജisibility in the soaking conditions, shedding 15-seco🍒nds to the leaders over the opening four laps as he dropped to last place.

Nevertheless, some of the warm-up set-up also worked well in the ꧋wet and he was able to set the seventh fastest lap of the race - 0.7s behind Fabio Quartararo, but the same margi෴n faster than team-mate Aleix Espargaro - as he climbed to 16th place.

✱"It was a survival race at the beginning, you couldn't see the bike in front, so it w🅘as very hard. I lost 15 seconds in four laps, so it was pretty tough!" said Vinales.

"But at the end of the race I had a good rhythm, good💙 lap times.

"I think today was the most 🍃positive day since I've been at Aprilia because we found a really good setting that I was able to go fast with in the warm-up session and that I was comfortable with even in wet conditions."

Just a day earlier, Vinales༺ had said "my championship will really start in Jerez" predicting testing time would be needed to solve persistent turning issues and lack of front feeling: "The RS-GP and I must become as one."

But the warm-u✃p breakthrough means Vinales might shorten that timeline.

"I'm very happy honestly. We 🌃feel that if we qualify in the front, ✱we can be in the front. I'm very excited to get to Argentina," he said.

Team-mate Espargaro finish🃏ed five-seconds ahead of Vinales, in ninth place, and holds seventh in the world championship after two rounds.

Vinales, a nine-time MotoGP race winner for Yamaha before last year's shock mid-season split, is curreꦚntly 16th in the points standings. His best result on the RS-GP so far is eighth place at the 2021 Emilia Romagna round.