Valentino Rossi believes that beating the factory Ducatis in Sunday’s Red Bull Ring MotoGP is going to be difficult as he is even struggling to stay in the Desmosedici slipstream on the straights - an area he says is crucial.
The Doctor has a five mile per hour top speed disadvantage to today’s quickest man Andrea Dovizoso and finished almost nine-tenths of a second down on his compatriot despite using the softer rear tyre which was eschewed by Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez.
“We have to fix all the small details to go faster on the straight but is very difficult. You can try to exit faster from the corner but on the straight, the level there. You never know, is just Friday, we have Saturday and the race is always very different,” said Rossi, speaking at the track.
“It depends very much if we are able to keep the slipstream of the Ducati. During the practice, I follow Dovizioso and it is difficult but you never know. Also because, everyone is worry about the fuel consumption and also I hope the Ducati have to take a little less power.
“The Ducati have a lot of horsepower but else they are able to do is compared to the Yamaha and Honda is less wheelie. For this reason they are very fast in acceleration. It look like with less wheelie on the front.”