Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were in much higher spirits on Saturday evening after an improved display from Movistar Yamaha in qualifying at Silverstone. The pair languished outside the top ten yesterday but modifications to the YZR-M1 allowed Lorenzo to secure third on the grid, three places ahead of his teammate.
Rossi believes the bike is now much more suitable for a race distance as well a stronger one-lap machine but he admitted there was potentially a better lap time in the YZR-M1 than he showed this afternoon.
“Today was a lot better for us”, he told reporters this afternoon. “Yesterday we were very worried but we modified the bike and fortunately our pace and rhythm improved a lot and the feeling with the bike is not so bad. I enjoyed riding the bike.”
“In general, it’s positive but personally I’m not fully satisfied with my qualifying. I think there was more potential because I wasn’t able to use the extra grip of the second new tyre. Sixth position is not bad and the second row is always my minimum target from qualifying but I’m not fully satisfied because I think I can go two or three tenths quicker. We now have to work for tomorrow because I still have some problems in braking and entry and we’re not 100% on the bumps so we have to work to improve because for sure, tomorrow the pace will be faster.”
Lorenzo agrees that there is still work to be done before the team can take the fight to polesitter Marc Marquez but with some further tweaks, the Spaniard believes a victory challenge isn’t out of the question.
“I didn’t expect to be on the front row because yesterday was very bad but little by little, we improved the bike. We still have some problems with the bumps, especially with the softer tyre, but it’s better than yesterday and if we make a good start we can be there with the front group”.
