His hopes were already meager but now they are definitely gone. No, the tenth world title will not be for Valentino Rossi this season. He is now 68 points behind leader Marc Marquez in the championship. The fault of two drawn results in two Grands Prix. But if, in Italy, the affair had gotten off to a bad start, there was room for improvement in Catalonia. And then along came Jorge Lorenzo…
The Yamaha factory rider, Valentino Rossi, was hit in Montmeló, like Casa Particular in Viñales et Dovizioso, by Lorenzo. But unlike most of his colleagues, the Doctor did not condemn the Spaniard. Instead, he wonders about the strange design of curve 10.
Valentino Rossi hasn't won races in two years. He will try again in two weeks at Assen, where he triumphed in 2017 for the 115th time in his Grand Prix career. In Catalonia, Red was eliminated as Casa Particular in Viñales et Dovizioso in the second round by Lorenzo. " It's a huge disappointment. I felt very good, we started the race with confidence after a great weekend » sighed the Yamaha official. “ We worked well during the tests. We have gained important knowledge. I felt comfortable on the bike, even during the warm-up, when I was seventh. I took the medium mixture behind and front for the race. I had a good rhythm. Driving the M1 was fun, I was also strong in the braking zones. I was regular... ».
« This is why I entered the race with a lot of optimism. In the warm-up lap and in the first lap of the race, I felt even better than in the warm-up. Our tire composition worked very well in this weather. We made the ideal choice. We thought about tire choice last night until 21 p.m. The hotter it was, the better the medium compound was. I could have fought for a podium ».
Yes but here it is… “ I was after Petrucci. I was a little faster than him and I wanted to overtake him,” said Valentino. “But I caught it at the wrong time, because I arrived quickly at turn 10. Then I saw the fall ahead. But I couldn't avoid Jorge's motorbike. I wanted to avoid a fall, but his motorcycle hit me. So I fell. Now I feel pain in my ankle because my foot got stuck between the two motorcycles. But it's racing. This happens sometimes ».
Casa Particular in Viñales, his teammate, demands a sanction against Lorenzo. But the Doctor replies: “ Lorenzo is having a hard time, that's for sure. He brought the soft mixture up behind and in front and therefore pushed very hard in the initial phase. Unfortunately, Quartararo and Márquez touched each other at turn 4. So everyone had to cut the gas, Lorenzo overtook us on the outside, then he got ahead of us. I don't want to interfere with what the race direction decides. I have nothing to say ».
More Red expands the problem: the track owner said he wanted to return to the old MotoGP circuit in the last two corners. They then worked a lot and increased the clearance zones. Why does this 10 curve seem so strange now? For me it's a supermarket parking lot ».
MotoGP Catalonia J3: classification
