It was a Rossi not very happy with his fate who finished his first day of the Japanese Grand Prix. There is work to be done on the Yamaha to do better than this final seventh place due to the fitment of soft tires at the end of the course.
An initiative which allows him to be in a top 10 which qualifies for entry for Q2 but which also shows a certain difficulty in being in the rhythm. A diagnosis made by the Doctor himself: “ this Friday leaves me with mixed feelings. The morning wasn't so bad and I was actually quite fast. But the afternoon was complicated. We tried the harder tires but both the front and the rear were not satisfactory. They don't give much grip and I lost my sensations ».
He pursues : " we mounted the softs and I was able to improve my times. But it's not enough. I am not happy with my settings and the balance of my bike. I'm really having trouble braking so there's a lot of work to do to improve that. ».
On the falls at the end of the second session, he explains: “ the temperatures dropped quite quickly and it seemed that it had become dangerous. However, the sensations with the Michelin tires are not so bad and we are not far from last year's times. I wish all the best for Pedrosa. Tomorrow we will change the balance of the bike and we will try to be better than today ».
Valentino Rossi is only 381 thousandths behind his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, leader at the end of this first sunny day at Motegi.
Massimo Meregalli: “Today we had a good start to the weekend during the first two practice sessions. During the morning race, both Jorge and Valentino immediately found a solid starting point and had a good pace. In the afternoon we spent most of the session trying different tire specifications, both front and rear. It was very important to do this, but this slowed down the development of the bike configuration somewhat. Despite this, Jorge was able to make good use of a new soft rear tire during his final pass, setting the best time of the day. Valentino suffered from a lack of grip at the start of the session. When he put on a new soft rear tire, he had difficulty braking the bike, particularly in the hard braking sections which are very fundamental here. There is still plenty of time to further improve the tune-up on both sides of the garage, and we are very confident that we can take another step forward tomorrow. »
