MotoGP Brno: Valentino Rossi "Honda has an advantage here from the test, the lost session penalized us"

Valentino Rossi ended the first day of testing for the Czech Grand Prix in fifth position. The Yamaha rider achieved it in the morning, when the Brno track was dry. The afternoon session was instead characterized by the weather, with the rain coming down to ruin the teams' plans after just a few laps. Here's what Rossi told the press in the usual media debrief.

“This morning wasn't bad, we went quite fast in the dry, even if the three Spaniards (Marquez, Pedrosa and Lorenzo) seem to have something more. I think it will be the three of them who will fight for victory, but they are not too far away. To get closer, I would have liked to shoot this afternoon too, when the rain came instead. In the wet it wasn't bad, even if we lost something in acceleration.”

Do you think the Honda riders have an advantage from the test carried out here before the summer break?

"Surely. We still had to catch up on them and losing this round gives them an advantage, having the references from the test. Tomorrow we will have to work trying to reduce the gap.”

Things seem to have changed compared to a few years ago. Before there were riders who went fast in the wet, now wet or dry makes no difference. How do you explain it?

“The level of professionalism has risen a lot. Today a pilot cannot afford to go slowly under water, because there are no longer any specialists. The last one is West. We can also make a comparison with the Japanese. When I started racing when we went to them the first eight drivers were Japanese, now the same ones always win, so there is more professionalism.”

If it were to rain there could be a flag-to-flag race. What do you think of Marquez's way of changing bikes? Does it benefit him?

“It certainly looks spectacular from the outside, but with stopwatch in hand we are more or less there. However, I have seen that other riders are also starting to imitate him and so I will also train in that direction, which is perhaps less dangerous than you think."