This Friday in the Qatari desert was day and night for Valentino Rossi. Literally as figuratively. Leading the afternoon under the sun, the Doctor found himself very helpless when darkness came. He went from shadow to light, being the only one not able to improve his time from the first session. The punishment was terrible. But there is an explanation.
And this explanation is a medium front tire which was destroyed prematurely. The Yamaha official says: “ in the morning I was strong in FP1, but in the second practice session of the evening I seriously destroyed the medium front tire on the right after five laps. We have no explanation, because in FP1 this tire was solid. It certainly wasn't a tire defect, because that's the kind of defect you feel on the first lap... It's a mystery. But as our contingent of tires is very limited, we could not fit a second set for FP2. Due to this misery, I am far behind in the standings, as many drivers were faster in FP2. We need to improve the balance of the bike and continue to do everything in FP3 to get into the top 10 ».
Certainly, but it will not be simple: “ I'm going to have a hard time making the top 10 and moving into Q2, because I'll have to run 1,54, which is hardly possible in the heat of the day ". And then there is this top speed of the Yamaha: 343,0 km/h for Red, 337,1 km/h for Casa Particular in Viñales against 351,7 km/m for the leader Márquez, or 351,6 km/h for Miller. Then Cal Crutchlow arrives at 350,7 km/h. But it is also true that Casa Particular in Viñales is second, Quarterly fifth and Morbidely seventh.
« I'm happy that the other Yamahas are fast. They were fast. We wanted to do it too… That was the plan at least” comments Red. " I didn't start the race too early during FP2. Additionally, you can do two laps here with the soft rear tire. Our plan was good. We wanted to test the front medium over the race distance. But like I said, after five laps the front tire was finished. Too bad, because after FP1, we were optimistic. It's hard to understand why the tire didn't last. It appears that the window in which the Yamaha operates properly is very narrow » He ends with speedweek."At the moment, I don't know what to expect on Sunday.".
MotoGP, Qatar J1: times
| 1 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 1'53.380 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'53.854 | 0.474 | 0.474 |
| 3 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'53.908 | 0.528 | 0.054 |
| 4 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'54.053 | 0.673 | 0.145 |
| 5 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'54.154 | 0.774 | 0.101 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'54.256 | 0.876 | 0.102 |
| 7 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'54.275 | 0.895 | 0.019 |
| 8 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'54.320 | 0.940 | 0.045 |
| 9 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | 1'54.367 | 0.987 | 0.047 |
| 10 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'54.402 | 1.022 | 0.035 |
| 11 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | 1'54.428 | 1.048 | 0.026 |
| 12 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'54.444 | 1.064 | 0.016 |
| 13 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'54.452 | 1.072 | 0.008 |
| 14 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'54.801 | 1.421 | 0.349 |
| 15 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'55.032 | 1.652 | 0.231 |
| 16 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'55.053 | 1.673 | 0.021 |
| 17 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'55.137 | 1.757 | 0.084 |
| 18 | 5 | johann zarco | KTM | 1'55.412 | 2.032 | 0.275 |
| 19 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 1'55.432 | 2.052 | 0.020 |
| 20 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'55.635 | 2.255 | 0.203 |
| 21 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'55.654 | 2.274 | 0.019 |
| 22 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | 1'56.437 | 3.057 | 0.783 |
| 23 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia | 1'56.834 | 3.454 | 0.397 |
