This Catalan Grand Prix will not remain among Vale's lasting memories, as the difficulties were great throughout the weekend. The Yamaha was not the bike best suited to the circuit, despite Jonas Folger's start. Rossi, like a great professional, made the most of it to score as many points as possible while waiting for better days. But the modest eighth place he obtained could only have left a bad taste in his mouth by causing him to be demoted to fifth position in the provisional ranking of the World Championship.
Qualifying went poorly, with only thirteenth place on the starting grid. Starting from the fifth row was nothing to cheer about, especially since the tight right-left that follows the start in Barcelona tends to stretch the peloton. Valentino was unable to perform a miracle and found himself twelfth after the first lap.
He even dropped back to thirteenth after being overtaken by Johann zarco. He then began a solid comeback and immediately overtook Hector Barbera, Scott Redding, Zarco and Jack Miller. But then he was passed by Johann Zarco again and found himself in ninth position. He then rode alone for the remainder of the race, dropping to eighth due to Petrucci's crash. The consequence was that he found himself in fifth position in the Championship, but only 1 point behind Dani Pedrosa and 5 from Marquez.
For Valentino Rossi, “We are very sad about this weekend, regarding the race and the result. First of all, it's one of my favorite tracks, and we expected a good race, because last year I won here after a great race. But we feared that we would suffer here like in Jerez, because it is also a low grip track. We were not mistaken.
“It is very strange that for the two races I won in 2016, this year I only finished in 7th and 8th place. These are exactly my two worst races this year. We tried a lot of solutions this weekend, but we were never fast enough.
“I can be happy to have scored at least a few points, because the race was difficult from A to Z because Folger and Zarco drove on medium Michelin tires. It's a shame that I fell back to fifth in the World Championship. But the top five drivers are separated by just 28 points. Plus, Zarco and Lorenzo are glued to us.
“We have to look to the future. Tomorrow we have an important testing day here. It is positive that we can try something here again. No, we will not be riding a 2016 Yamaha, so the models are used at Tech3 Yamaha. But we have some interesting ideas and elements we can try. We want to improve speed.
“The main problem with the 2017 Yamaha here was traction, especially in the right-hand corners. Because after ten rounds I had considerable difficulty. I tried everything, but it was impossible to get out of the corners quickly. In my opinion it is mainly because we have a problem with the bike in the corner, therefore with the steering. I already complained on the first day. I still suffer from it, sometimes more, sometimes less.
“The 2016 bike runs better in my opinion and puts less stress on the rear tire. Here and in Jerez, they were faster than us. The 2016 Yamaha is more competitive on low-grip tracks than the new one. »
Race ranking:
1- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP
2- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 3.544
3- Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team - Honda RC213V - + 6.774
4- Jorge Lorenzo – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 9.608
5- Johann Zarco – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 13.838
6- Jonas Folger – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 13.921
7- Alvaro Bautista – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 16.763
8- Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 20.821
9- Hector Barbera – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 23.952
10- Maverick Vinales – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 24.189
11- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda – Honda RC213V – + 28.329
12- Loris Baz – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP15 – + 33.281
13- Scott Redding – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 35.200
14- Karel Abraham – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP15 – + 39.436
15- Tito Rabat – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V – + 40.872
16- Andrea Iannone – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR – + 43.221
17- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR – + 44.655
18- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 – + 48.993
19- Sam Lowes – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP – + 55.492
World Championship :
1 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 111 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 104
3 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 88
4 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 84
5 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 83
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 75
7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 59
8 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 51
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 45
10 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 42
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 34
12 Scott REDDING-Ducati 33
13 Jack MILLER-Honda 30
14 Loris BAZ-Ducati 23
15 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 21
16 Hector BARBERA-Ducati 21
17 Tito RABAT-Honda 19
18 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 17
19 Karel ABRAHAM-Ducati 11
20 Michele PIRRO-Ducati 7
21 Alex RINS-Suzuki 7
22 Pol ESPARGARO-KTM 6
23 Bradley SMITH-KTM 6
24 Sam LOWES-Aprilia 2
25 Sylvain GUINTOLI-Suzuki 1
Photo © Yamaha
