Having gotten off to a bad start on Friday, Valentino Rossi recovered this Saturday, particularly in the morning by entering Q2 directly. Still in disagreement with Morbidelli who should be his future teammate in the colors of Petronas, the Doctor thanked his team for this return to form, modest however in view of the qualifications. Eleventh, the Doctor diagnosed a slow and bunched race at first to preserve the tires. Precisely, since we're talking about Michelin, he has a message for the manufacturer's representative Piero Taramasso...
We must not hide it, it will be complicated for Valentino Rossi this sunday at Jerez. He will probably have as a traveling companion Morbidely who was his shadow throughout this Saturday in Andalusia. But Casa Particular in Viñales as Quarterly are on a different rhythm. The problem has been known for a long time: the different, and less efficient, use of the tire. This one is stamped Michelin , and the representative of the bibendum ventured to analyze Vale's driving style... Who politely takes it up... " I don't agree with what Taramasso said, he says that I consume more tires because I don't get off the bike too much. But if you look at the photos, it's not true ».
« I worked a lot on that and for example when we raced with Bridgestone we were even more off the bike. There are other riders, like Dovizioso who have a much more composed style on the bike but who don't wear the tires excessively. More than anything else, I have to say that, in my career, I have always preferred hard tires both as a carcass and as a compound whereas now the Michelins are very soft » explains Vale.
“From the fourth, we are all in a package”
But he does not want to charge the man with Michelin… “ On the other hand, the other drivers, as Taramasso said, have adapted to this new tire and it is now up to us to work. We have improved a lot since yesterday, we are starting to work well with David Munoz, my chief technician. Not yet enough but we are working to be more competitive ».
On the race to come, he predicts: “ both in Malaysia and in Qatar we went fast, but I knew that here in Jerez we would have struggled. We haven't done well there since 2017. The first three drivers have an advantage, but from the fourth onwards we are all there. It will be a long race, I expect a good scrum race after the first three ". We will recall that the last victory Yamaha in Jerez dates back to 2016, with Valentino Rossi.
MotoGP Jerez 1 J2: Q2 and Q1 times
