MotoGP – IRTA Jerez Test Day 3 – Rossi: ”Good challenge with Pedrosa!”

Excellent timed session for Valentino Rossi who, by lowering the circuit record to 1'38"394, won the BMW up for grabs for the best time. The Pesaro native accepted the challenge with Pedrosa with good heart, pushing his Yamaha to surprising levels. The result proves the excellent work carried out during the winter, which seems to be able to guarantee Rossi a season at totally positive levels. All that remains is to wait for the race in Qatar.

“After this morning, when my Yamaha worked really well, I knew I had a real chance of winning this challenge”, says Valentino Rossi. “I also knew that it would be a tough duel and I expected Pedrosa to prove as strong as he actually was. It was a fun challenge with him, the first real challenge of the year! Regardless, with every qualifying tire I tried this afternoon I always felt comfortable and was able to be faster. In the end my time was fantastic, my Yamaha was flying! The most important thing about all this is that this shows the great work we have done over the winter: everyone has worked hard and this is a good way to thank them. The new bike works really well with the new tyres, both the race and qualifying tyres, this is also very important and I want to thank Michelin for this. It was fun to see how far I could push the new bike and it responded brilliantly, I had a lot of confidence in my Yamaha today and was able to ride it to the limit. Colin was also very fast and this once again shows how good the bike is. Clearly this is not the first race! Now we'll have to wait until Qatar, but we're definitely in good shape and I'm excited for the season ahead!”

Chiara Folci