Movistar Yamaha Continue Battle with Elements in First Japanese FP Sessions
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13/10/2017
Free practice
Today Movistar Yamaha MotoGP's Valentino Rossi prepared for an intense weekend at the Twin Ring Motegi track.
Rossi took his time in FP1 to get up to speed at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. The track's various heavy braking zones make it vital to get the tyres up to temperature. Despite still recovering from his leg injury, the nine-time World Champion made progress, especially towards the end of the session, and finished 19th with a lap of 1'58.618s, 3.200s from first.
With the weather conditions barely improving for FP2, the Doctor made some changes to increase downforce. He started working on the feeling of the rear of his bike going into the corners and was able to improve his time by more than two seconds to a 1'56.435s by the end of the day. He finished less than 1.558s from the top, good for 12th position. The result also keeps him in 12th place in the combined times, ahead of tomorrow's sessions.
Valentino Rossi
Position: 12th - Time: 1'56.435 - Laps: 33
"I'm in some pain, but it's not a big problem. Unfortunately, we struggle, because today we had two complete practices in the full wet and we could work on the setting, but both sessions were not fantastic. We are a bit in trouble, the bike is a bit difficult to ride and we don't have enough rear grip, so it's difficult. We hope that the conditions become better, or we try something tomorrow and we'll see."
Massimo Meregalli
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - Team Director
"We weren't expecting to face such difficulties today. Unfortunately, we struggled with a lack of rear grip, especially on corner entry, even though the grip level of the Motegi track is always good. Our performance level in wet conditions continues to be a point of improvement. We tried to solve this issue during today's wet sessions, but we didn't get the breakthrough we hoped for. Since we weren't ready to exploit the extra soft tyre, as we wouldn't have been able to enjoy its full advantage, we decided against using it, also because of the small quantity that we were given. The weather conditions are expected to remain the same, so we'll continue to keep pushing in the rain because we're eager to make a big step over the weekend for Sunday's race."
