Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi is unsure what to do about the pace of current MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez at Austin and says the young Repsol Honda man is currently on another level to the rest of the field.
Marquez set seven laps that were faster than everyone else in the second free practice session and The Doctor is some 1.3s slower over one lap than the Spaniard. Rossi hasn’t yet figured out why Marquez is so fast or what his tactics will be to deal with him.
“I think is very difficult but is early to say, everything can happen tomorrow, Sunday. Today he was very strong, he is in another level. With the others we are very close, more or less on the same level. Marquez is faster from the first lap. For me is a good track for Honda, quite bad for Yamaha, we have some problem, in some places he like a lot so he is able to give 10 per cent more,” said Rossi, speaking at Austin.
“I am satisfied with today. I stay always in the top. This afternoon with the higher temperature the bike is difficult to ride but we focus on the hard tyre on the rear and I am happy to race with it but with the Yamaha it is difficult, the setting is not perfect.
“I am not satisfied with my laptime as I have the potential to stay in second or third position. I can do three-tenth faster, but I try too much and make some mistakes. The target is improve the setting in a lot of areas, and improve my riding style.”
