Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi is praying that the cold temperatures that blighted yesterday’s free practice session do not return for tomorrow’s Sachsenring race as that will mean ‘big, big trouble’ for the Movistar Yamaha man.
The Doctor, and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, struggled to find any pace in free practices one and two with Rossi only able to up his game as conditions normalised today but even with a front-row start, Rossi thinks that colder temperatures will prove disastrous.
In a normal condition I think that we are quite competitive. We can make a good race. But look at the practice - Marquez is a bit faster, so I think that will be difficult. But now the bigger question mark for everybody is the weather. Everybody say that tomorrow will be more similar to yesterday,’ said Rossi, speaking at the track.
“If it’s very, very cold we are in big, big trouble because we are not able to ride the bike. If will be wet is a big question mark for everybody because we have to restart from zero and we don’t know if we are competitive or not.
“We struggling a lot for the temperature of the front tyre so it was very dangerous ride the bike and it was very frustrating because you cannot push at the maximum and every time you try you have the clear feeling to crash. But this morning when I wake up is changing the season compared to yesterday because is summer.
“Yesterday unfortunately the performance was bad but we were able to understand the way to follow for the setting so we improve a lot the bike. I think that also the track improve today, not just for the temperature but also for the rubber. You can have more grip. We make a step in the setting already from this morning. I was quite competitive and for all the day I was quite fast so is a good day.”