Qualifying Handicaps Rossi Once Again
- Aug 10, 2015
- 2 min read
Valentino Rossi lamented yet another foul qualifying in which he placed his YZR-M1 Movistar Yamaha 8th.
With the men setting the big pace throughout the weekend – Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo – starting on the front row, Rossi had a mammoth task ahead if he was to chase them down.
A good start saw the Italian up to 4th by the second lap, and onto the back of the second Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa six laps later. But by then the damage had been done. His pace was identical to the guys at the front and that meant he was unable to make any inroads.
To make matters worse, Dani Pedrosa had found a bit more confidence with his RC213V as the fuel loads came down. This meant Rossi had to really fight for that final rostrum. Despite a last-gasp attack from the Spaniard on the final lap, he was able to slip back through and take a crucial 16 points.
At a track where Rossi really struggles this weekend was all about damage limitation, and he leaves the US with a nine point gap to team-mate Jorge Lorenzo after he finished 2nd. But, had he made a better job of things in qualifying, the outcome could have been vastly different.
“At one moment Jorge was in front and I was fourth, so I would have lost twelve points. I had to try at the maximum because these points for third are more important for me than for Dani. I gave my all and it was very difficult because this track, with this temperature and humidity is very demanding, but I'm happy at the end because it was a good race and I had a good pace.
“The problem is the qualifying, we struggle too much in the practice and we arrive (at qualifying) with a little but too much of a delay before finding a good setting. Starting from the third row is always difficult. I started well and I was fast on the first laps so, if I would have been able to start from the second row, I would have been able to stay with Marc and Jorge until the end of the race. We have to work hard on this starting from Brno.”
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