MotoGP, San Marino GP, Misano, J1: Conference by Valentino Rossi in the final four (Full)

After having enjoyed himself on the road between Tavullia and the Misano circuit with his MotoGP M1 before the Grand Prix, Valentino Rossi had a good first day of free practice, finishing in fourth position behind his teammate Maverick Viñales, Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez.

During the first morning session, Vale set the ninth time in 1'34.182, 1.029 behind the leader fabio quartararo. In the afternoon, he took the fourth time in 1'33.470, 0.695 behind. Maverick Vinales. His position in the standings was therefore good, especially as Rossi continued the development undertaken during the two days of testing which took place recently in Misano.

Viñales tried the carbon swingarm on this first day, but then returned to the classic model. On the other hand, Valentino had one of his two Yamahas fully equipped with new parts developed by the Japanese manufacturer, including the double exhaust, the carbon swingarm and the wheel flanges. After having tested all this equipment, Rossi will try this Saturday to qualify as best as possible, which seems possible thanks to his talent and his experience on the circuit, and also thanks to the fact that this Friday we found the four Yamahas among the five first.

We're off and running for #MotoGP FP1! 🙌

Home favorite @ValeYellow46 heads straight out on track! 👊#SanMarinoGP 🇸🇲 pic.twitter.com/SBbtAx2eLy

- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) September 13, 2019

Valentino is of course at home in Misano because of his neighboring home in Tavullia, but also because of his record on this circuit where he has been on the MotoGP podium six times, winning three victories in the premier class in 2008, 2009 and 2014, also with two second places in 2012 and 2016, and a third place in 2010.

His two best results this season so far are two fourth places achieved in Austria and Silverstone. During qualifying, Vale took two front rows, with second position on the starting grid at the start of the year in Austin and more recently at Silverstone. Currently, Vale occupies sixth position in the provisional World Championship standings, 2 points behind his teammate Maverick Viñales. During the recent Misano tests, he placed fourth, 0.750 behind leader Fabio Quartararo, with a good overall performance from the Yamaha thanks to Franco Morbidelli third and Maverick Viñales sixth.

As usual, we report here the raw words of Valentino Rossi, without the slightest journalistic interpretation.

Valentino Rossi : “yes, it's a good start, it's a good Friday, also because it seems that all the Yamahas are very competitive. It's a bit of a surprise but it's a good feeling because it seems that with all the different setups between me, Maverick and the Petronas team, our bike is working very well here in Misano. So we have good grip and we are not so bad in acceleration. We are well on time and the pace is also good, so it's a good feeling. For me, personally, we still have a lot to do and we need to improve because I don't feel fantastic about the balance of my bike. I need more grip when accelerating, and in time trial I am P4 but I have to try to be stronger and be closer to Viñales and Quartararo. But it's a good Friday: the feeling is positive and now we have to work and try to continue like this and maintain this speed also for the rest of the weekend. »

Today you used a lot of things: the front wheel fairing, the carbon swingarm, the dual exhaust… Can you tell us about it?

“Yes, it's good, it's positive, because it seems that Yamaha is working hard now, and also working in the right direction. In my opinion, maybe 5 years is an exaggeration, but from the end of 2016 until the Misano test, or maybe the Brno test, in reality we didn't test anything. Or with every single thing we tested, nothing was clearly better than the old hardware. So technically speaking, it was a very difficult period and, in fact, the gap with the other manufacturers was increasing. But now it seems that this year something has changed since the summer, but actually since the beginning of the season: there are a lot of different people, especially from Japan but also from Europe. And it seems like now we're starting to see the effects of that.
But it is also true that, since Quartararo and Franco are fast despite having the normal equipment, it is thanks to the marriage between the bike and the track. We have significantly different configurations with the bike, the exhaust, the carbon swingarm, the brake, but the brake has already been two or three races, but we have a good feeling! »

Yamaha is barely better in race pace than in time trial. Do you think that on this circuit which has less grip than last year Yamaha will be able to do well in the race?

“We hope so, of course!” But today maybe it didn't work much rhythm-wise because we had other things to do, but it's something strange to understand because normally... (it slides) . The situation has therefore changed a lot compared to last year: usually, when the track is slower, with less grip, we struggle more. But here in Misano we are fast.
Regarding the pace, we still have a lot to do with the balance of the bike and with the electronics as well, so it's a bit early to talk: maybe we'll know more after tomorrow. »

The fact that you have used all the new features, does that mean that you are completely convinced that this is the solution and that you will continue to use them?

“Yes, the two days of testing after Silverstone were useful for us because we worked very hard, especially on the new parts. And in the end, it was pretty clear to me that the new material is better, so I decided to focus on that. But now the conditions are a bit different, especially this morning because the track had a lot less grip, so we had to start work again to try to tune the bike up for the weekend. But I think this is the way to progress. I more or less like everything I've tried. It doesn't make a huge difference, but we're taking it step by step, and that's the way to progress. »

Waiting for @ValeYellow46's #SanMarinoGP 🇸🇲 special helmet 🎨

What will the home hero have in store for tomorrow? 🤩

Any guess?🤔 pic.twitter.com/bZ5bX6Zip3

- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) September 13, 2019