Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) makes another bit of history on Sunday at Silverstone as he lines up to begin his 300th premier class race – becoming the first rider in history to hit that number. And he’s set up well for the occasion, just missing pole by less than a tenth and improving his best lap around the British track by some margin.
There are some things to improve for tomorrow, however, with the rider from Tavullia hoping to fight for the podium – but tyre life the key thing to work on before the lights go out.
Valentino Rossi, P2: “We always suffer in Sector 4 because it’s a place where our problem is big and we spin a lot. But starting yesterday from a good level, today we tried to improve but unfortunately we weren’t able to make it better. The feeling with the bike and track is a bit worse today than yesterday, but we hope from today to tomorrow it remains dry. But it was a good lap and I enjoyed it, I improved my best lap at Silverstone by 0.8. Now we have to try and understand if we can improve, especially the tyre life, because as had happened a lot this year, at the beginning we’re not bad but we suffer with degradation. I think the second half of the race will be difficult but I hope to make a small step to be there. 300 is a great number and it’s important to try and get on the podium tomorrow in this race! If everything goes well I think we can fight for the podium – maybe the last spot?”