Valentino Rossi arrived in Jerez boosted by his second place overall in a championship which is only just beginning. With two podiums in three races, he hoped that the fourth would present itself under favorable omens, especially since he was the first to qualify it as a justice of the peace. But his relationship with Jerez, a site where he has already collected nine successes in his career, no longer works. For two seasons, with his Yamaha, he has suffered there. And this edition of the Spanish Grand Prix seems to want to be part of this complicated continuity. He will in fact only start from thirteenth position…
Saturday didn't start too badly, but the Doctor had to go through Q1 which, for 41 thousandths, meant the end of his day. His teammate Casa Particular in Viñales left in Q2 for a top 5 and to be dominated by the Yamaha satellite team in a state of grace. And his executioner will have been his student at the academy, Pecco Bagnaia, second in the repechage.
A situation which is not very favorable for the future of events. However, Valentino Rossi never despair: “ we have made a lot of progress compared to Friday ", said the Yamaha official. “ Yesterday I was quite desperate because I wasn't fast enough. But then we improved the electronics, the acceleration, the engine braking, the balance. Today we improved. FP3 was a good training session, I had good pace on the medium tires, which could be a good choice for the race. I was fine with the first soft tire of the FP3. But unfortunately I made a mistake with the second tire, I lost a lot. I thought I would stay in the top ten with 1'37,4 min. But I fell back to 11th place by 0,041 seconds... So I had to do Q1 ».
« In Q1, I had traffic on my best lap, so I didn't move up to Q2. Unfortunately this track hasn't been great for me, my bike and my team in recent years. And it was confirmed today. The starting position is certainly not good for tomorrow, but my pace is not that bad. But there are a lot of fast drivers. It is therefore difficult to estimate what will happen in the race ».
In 2017, Rossi was beaten by Yamaha riders from Tech3, zarco et Folger and again by zarco in 2018. This time, the Petronas Yamaha riders, Quarterly et Morbidely, took positions 1 and 2. Is there a plausible explanation for this? “ Like everyone else, I am surprised that the two colleagues from Yamaha occupy first and second places. Franco's level doesn't surprise me. I know him well. But also Quartararo amazes me. Both were fast in winter testing, they love the bike, here in Jerez they were fast for two days in every test session. And in qualifying, they delivered their masterpiece. Congratulations to them! Maybe they are better than me, maybe they drive better here than me, maybe they like Jerez better than me. In any case, Jerez has been difficult for me in recent years ».
He finishes : " but we still have work to do. Because in some parts I'm not strong enough. If we can make a few more improvements, it can go a little faster during the 25 laps. My pace isn't that bad. I'm not that far from the leader in running speed ».
Spanish Grand Prix Jerez MotoGP J3: times
| 1 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'36.880 | ||
| 2 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'36.962 | 0.082 | 0.082 |
| 3 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 1'36.970 | 0.090 | 0.008 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'37.018 | 0.138 | 0.048 |
| 5 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'37.114 | 0.234 | 0.096 |
| 6 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'37.175 | 0.295 | 0.061 |
| 7 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'37.209 | 0.329 | 0.034 |
| 8 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'37.332 | 0.452 | 0.123 |
| 9 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'37.351 | 0.471 | 0.019 |
| 10 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'37.384 | 0.504 | 0.033 |
| 11 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | 1'37.496 | 0.616 | 0.112 |
| 12 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'37.514 | 0.634 | 0.018 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'37.164 | ||
| Q2 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'37.299 | 0.135 | 0.135 |
| 13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'37.371 | 0.207 | 0.072 |
| 14 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1'37.406 | 0.242 | 0.035 |
| 15 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'37.605 | 0.441 | 0.199 |
| 16 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | 1'37.625 | 0.461 | 0.020 |
| 17 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'37.798 | 0.634 | 0.173 |
| 18 | 5 | johann zarco | KTM | 1'37.820 | 0.656 | 0.022 |
| 19 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia | 1'38.357 | 1.193 | 0.537 |
| 20 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'38.403 | 1.239 | 0.046 |
| 21 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'38.447 | 1.283 | 0.044 |
| 22 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'38.894 | 1.730 | 0.447 |
| 23 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | 1'40.042 | 2.878 | 1.148 |
| 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia |
