Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi had a difficult Saturday at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon, with a crash in FP3 and a P17 grid position confirming Yamaha are yet to find the source of their continuing problems.
“It was a very difficult day,” confirmed ‘The Doctor’. “From the morning because we try to modify compared to yesterday because yesterday I was in the top ten but the feeling was bad and we did worse I think. After this morning, I also crashed so I went into Q1 and in Q1 I waited too much and didn’t do a good lap. If I had done a good lap, maybe I could have started two or three more positions in front but, unfortunately, I didn’t have the pace for Q2.”
Before coming into Round 14 at MotorLand Aragon, Rossi admitted that he expected a difficult weekend on the YZR-M1 and it seems whatever he and his team are trying in the garage, isn’t working: “It’s difficult because practice by practice, we try a lot of different things but it seems like the problem always remains the same, so you have the feeling that what we can do in the box is not enough.”
So what can Rossi do from P17 on the grid? Well, the Italian did start from P14 at the Red Bull Ring this year and managed to carve his way up to sixth by the checkered flag, can we expect a similar outcome on Sunday afternoon?