Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi took a gamble with his front tyre choice for today’s Jerez MotoGP round, opting for the hardest compund available as he was worried about the duration of the medium choice.
The Doctor managed to hold off a late charge by Dani Pedrosa to claim second place behind the imperious Marc Marquez but was way ahead of team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who struggled to fourth place.
“I’m very happy because Jerez is one of my favourite circuits and race weekends, also for the people around the track and the atmosphere. We worked very well during the weekend and improved the bike, also this morning and it looked like I could be quite competitive for the race,” said Rossi.
“I chose the extra hard tyre on the front, it was a risk but I was worried about the medium at the end of the race. The condition of the track today was very bad, the bike slid everywhere and the front kept closing, I think I did a great job, I did a good start and I tried to stay with Marc but it was impossible.
“After that I tried to keep my pace and push where I could and where my bike was well balanced and I kept quite constant. At the end Dani arrived but I had just a little bit of desperation in the last lap to stay in front. I’m very proud and happy to arrive in second position here as it was 2010 the last time I stood on the Jerez podium.”
