Valentino Rossi had warned: this edition of Spanish Grand Prix on the selective Jerez track would set the tone for the rest of the long European campaign on the MotoGP calendar. Second in championnat before the deadline after coming off the Argentinian and Texan podiums, the Doctor was curious to know what diagnosis would come out of the operation. He saw. And he’s obviously a little disappointed…
Qualified only thirteenth after a qualification which ended with Q1, the Yamaha official finished his race in sixth place. Not so bad, but insufficient for those who want to claim the title. Vale now finds itself fourth in the provisional general standings, nine points behind the leader, and winner in Jerez, Marc Marquez.
Certainly, compared to last year, its performance has improved, but Red is not satisfied with the final result, starting with the missed access to Q2 on Saturday. Tomorrow, Monday, he will be mobilized for a day of testing and will hope to find a solution likely to increase the competitiveness of his M1.
« Last year I finished fifth, but 4/5 runners had fallen in front of me, otherwise I would have been far behind and the race was much faster. Last year, I was 10/11 seconds behind the winner, this year 7, we are a little better. I was fast at the end of the race and that's very important. As I told my team, we could have done better, we didn't have any points where we did very well, we were "average" in all areas » comments the teammate of a Casa Particular in Viñales third.
« Maybe we were a little too conservative, but we didn't want to venture into the unknown. Then I started from afar, if I had started higher on the grid I could have fought with the group right in front of me, with Dovizioso and Petrucci. After so many laps, I managed to overtake Miller and Franco Morbidelli and then set good times. “
“In Argentina and Austin, the bike behaved well straight away. Here we had difficulties. I actually couldn't get into the top 10 and make it to Q2. We can improve a lot, especially tire life and consistency in the final laps. Last year it was much more difficult, we improved but not enough. "
He finishes : " we have a little something to find, it's very important because the others always have something new. We need to improve acceleration and electronics compared to Honda and Ducati. "
Spanish Grand Prix Jerez MotoGP J3: classification
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
