The Yamaha rider made two mistakes on this first day of the Valencia Grand Prix, but is satisfied with his pace despite everything.
Valentino Rossi did not have an easy day, unlike his teammate who was extremely fast and comfortable on the Valencian circuit. Victim of two falls, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, number 46 finished outside the provisional top 10 in the combined times ranking, but does not appear to be defeatist in view of the good pace he showed before making a mistake.
“Luckily I’m fine”, he commented. “The first fall was rather “light” but the second was a little more violent. Here in Valencia it's always dangerous on the right side of the tire, especially in these conditions, because it's very cold, it's winter. This morning I made a mistake, I pushed too much on the first lap and I crashed. I left a little too optimistic. »
“On the other hand, we understand less my crash this afternoon because it was after seven laps or something like that, but nevertheless it happened. But I'm fine. It's a shame because before my falls I was pretty strong, my pace wasn't bad. In the morning I was third and in the afternoon fifth or seventh. »
Finally eighth in FP1 and 14th in FP2, his first objective is obviously ready for tomorrow: “We have to work on the bike to make the right choice of tires, but the most important thing is to try to put in a good lap in FP3 tomorrow to be in the top 10, and then we'll see. »
“I don't remember the last time I fell twice in the same day, it was a long time ago. Fortunately ! (laughs) », he concluded with a smile.
MotoGP Valencia J1: times
| 1 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'30.735 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'30.883 | 0.148 | 0.148 |
| 3 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 1'30.974 | 0.239 | 0.091 |
| 4 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'31.000 | 0.265 | 0.026 |
| 5 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'31.199 | 0.464 | 0.199 |
| 6 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'31.230 | 0.495 | 0.031 |
| 7 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'31.280 | 0.545 | 0.050 |
| 8 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | 1'31.305 | 0.570 | 0.025 |
| 9 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'31.351 | 0.616 | 0.046 |
| 10 | 5 | johann zarco | Honda | 1'31.369 | 0.634 | 0.018 |
| 11 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'31.433 | 0.698 | 0.064 |
| 12 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'31.455 | 0.720 | 0.022 |
| 13 | 51 | Michael PIRRO | Ducati | 1'31.765 | 1.030 | 0.310 |
| 14 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'31.775 | 1.040 | 0.010 |
| 15 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'31.868 | 1.133 | 0.093 |
| 16 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | 1'31.880 | 1.145 | 0.012 |
| 17 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'31.905 | 1.170 | 0.025 |
| 18 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'32.159 | 1.424 | 0.254 |
| 19 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'32.278 | 1.543 | 0.119 |
| 20 | 82 | Mika Kallio | KTM | 1'32.467 | 1.732 | 0.189 |
| 21 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 1'32.568 | 1.833 | 0.101 |
| 22 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | 1'32.887 | 2.152 | 0.319 |
| 23 | 27 | Iker LECUONA | KTM | 1'33.114 | 2.379 | 0.227 |
