Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi has given himself a lot of work to do in tomorrow’s Phillip Island MotoGP race after a setup change before qualifying saw him in trouble on the brakes in the 15 minute session.
The nine-time world champion has been at the sharp end all weekend but the setup change forced mistakes in the second run and he couldn’t match the pace of team-mate Jorge Lorenzo who sits on the front row next to Cal Crutchlow.
“It’s a shame on the qualifying. We did some mistakes. I wasn’t able to improve my laptime with the second tyre, with the first tyre I was quite strong. Unfortunately, we did some modify to the bike and I was a little bit more in trouble in braking so also for this reason I did a mistake with the second tyre in sector three and I wasn’t able to improve so I have to start from the third now,” said Rossi, speaking at Phillip Island.
“Tomorrow it will be more difficult as many riders are in front and everybody is very fast. It will be hard and very important to make a good start and first lap. I am quite good because I have a good pace but the race is long so we have to give the maximum.
“The rear tyre for me is not so bad and can resist for the whole race. For the front we have to decide but it will decide a lot on the conditions of tomorrow.”
