Valentino Rossi says he achieved his aim prior to the qualifying session by putting his Movistar Yamaha on the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Italian admitted he was lacking pace on Friday but was much happier with his lap times when it matter most.
“The target was the second row so I’m happy and I was also able to do a 2:00, the same as the top three guys, and starting from fourth position is good for the race tomorrow. In fifteen minutes, the most important thing is your pace but it’s not just that. It’s strategy, everybody has to calculate their position so you need to be in the right place. After that, you also need to be lucky!”
So far this weekend, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo have looked a class above the rest of the competition but Rossi remains hopeful of challenging them tomorrow in a race he expects to be dominated by tyre wear.
“I’m quite satisfied about today because we were able to improve the feeling and the setting with the bike. At this track the rear tyre is under stress so we need to find the right setting and the right balance to have a reactive bike but also save the rear tyre. The pace of Marc and Jorge is a bit better so we need to improve more if we want to try to fight with them. At the same time, it will be difficult to fight for the podium because Dani also looks really fast.”
