Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi struggled for pace during this afternoon’s second Catalunya MotoGP free practice session and put it down to the scorching track temperatures which made finding corner-entry grip difficult.
The nine-time world champion wasn’t at all happy with his performance over the course of the day, ending in seventh on the combined timesheet and three-quarters of a second slower than Aleix Espargaro on the Open class Forward NGM bike.
“A very difficult practice for everyone I think as with these temperatures is very hard. Is very demanding this afternoon both physical, and for the bike and the tyres, a lot of load and a lot of stress, so after some laps it start to slide very much as the temperature is very high,” said Rossi, speaking at the track.
“The condition of the track is difficult, the asphalt looks quite old and there are many bumps and not a lot of grip, especially in the afternoon. I am not very happy about my position or pace as we are not very good with the setting of the bike.
“In practice this morning, we decide to follow one way but was not the right way. This afternoon, in the heat, I have a lot of problem especially with the entry, I am not very fast, so for this reason I can arrive to a level but is not enough so we have to go faster.
“Tomorrow we will find a setting and we try to go in another way to go faster. Apart from that, it was an important practice as we try all the four options which are all possible for the race but it depends on the temperature.”
