Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was inside the top ten on Day 1 of the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, taking P9 by the end of action - but the rider from Tavullia had expected a little better. Regardless, the pack are close and the Yamaha team didn't test at the venue in May - leaving the 'Doctor' ready to work hard to keep his position in the top ten on Saturday.
Valentino Rossi, P9: "For us it was a problem, because we didn‘t come here for the test. This means we need all the minutes of the practice sessions because we have a lot of work to do, but in the end the only real practice was this afternoon. Sincerely, this afternoon was nothing fantastic, but anyway my pace with the race tyre at the beginning was not so bad and we made some small modifications. There are a lot of riders with good pace. At the end, whilst riding on the soft tyre, I thought I could do better, arrive in a better position and also improve the setting of the bike, but at the end I‘m just 9th. I expected to do better, but it‘s also true that I‘m not far behind. It will be a very tight fight, especially tomorrow the main target is to try to stay inside the top10, that will be very important. We need to work because we need to improve and after we need to try the tyres."