MotoGP Barcelona: Valentino Rossi, “I'm disappointed and it will be a tough race, decisive tires”

Catalan GP Yamaha MotoGP – Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow from the fifth row in the Catalunya Grand Prix, the seventh stage of the 2017 world championship. The Yamaha rider missed out on Q2 by just a few cents and will be called upon to make a great comeback tomorrow.

However, what worries the Pesaro rider is the poor feeling with Yamaha, which also struggled with team-mate Maverick Vinales, leader of the world championship standings. Here's what #46 had to say.

“I'm a bit disappointed, because I thought I could go better and instead for some reason the track today was slower than yesterday, while usually the opposite happens. With these temperatures and this asphalt, it's difficult to ride and tomorrow it will be a nightmare to drive. We suffer with both the medium and hard tires, the latter are more constant but have less grip, while the medium ones we don't know if they will reach the end of the race. However, we still have the warm up to improve something, now we will look at the data and then decide."

You start in the fifth row, what do you expect?

“I'm starting from the back and tomorrow will be a tough race, I hope it will be for the others too. We will need to start well and recover some positions. Those who have fewer problems will have an advantage, we will need to understand what the track will be like, whether it will improve or, on the contrary, whether it will get even worse. With 50° doing 25 laps will be difficult for everyone."

Michelin guilty for Yamaha's lack of competitiveness?

“The thing I struggle to understand is the difference in performance from one race to the next, just think of the last three races. The relationship between the bike and the tires changes a lot from one track to another and has a huge impact. The performance of the bike on this track is more due to the asphalt"

Ducati is going strong here too, did you expect it?

“We expected it at Mugello, but they are going strong here too, Lorenzo and Petrucci on the front row and Dovizioso was also strong. The fact is that within a few tenths there are many riders and it's a moment from the top positions to get back. It's all very level.”

There will be tests on Monday, do you have anything special to try?

“We don't have anything special to test, but we will do setting tests.”

Yesterday in the Safety Commission it was decided to return to last year's layout, they accuse you of being the supporter of this decision, this after 200 thousand euros were spent on the changes.

“The important thing is that they don't ask me for money (big laugh, ed.). The truth is that yesterday in the Safety Commission we all agreed on which track to use, no one had any doubts."

Photos: Alex Farinelli