Movistar Yamaha’s says he has work to do on the balance of his M1 overnight as he struggled to get the harder of Michelin’s options to work in both of Motegi’s MotoGP free practice sessions.
The Doctor was pleased with his laptimes in the morning session but struggled in the afternoon as he lost grip with the harder-compund tyres front and rear, and he also needs to work on braking stability too.
“It was a mixed day, because this morning wasn’t so bad and I was quite fast, but this afternoon was a difficult practice. We tried the harder tyres, but both the front and the rear didn’t give very good grip so I lost some feeling,” said Rossi.
“At the end we put the softer tyre back in and I improved my lap time, but it wasn’t enough because I’m not very happy with the setting and the balance of the bike. It is very difficult to stop in braking, so we have to work and try to recover. About the tyres, the feeling is not so bad.
“The lap times are also not so far from last year’s, but this afternoon we unfortunately had a lot of crashes and also some injuries for Pedrosa. This is because in the afternoon it looks like the temperature drops down very quickly and after that it becomes dangerous. Good luck to Pedrosa and for us tomorrow, we will try to modify the balance and we try to be strong.”
