Catalunya MotoGP: Valentino Rossi pushing for Ducati upgrades

Valentino Rossi has urged Ducati to continue rolling out new parts for his factory GP11 machine after he finished over 0.8s off pole position in Catalunya today.

The Italian emerged unscathed from a heavy crash this morning to claim his best qualifying result on board Ducati’s factory GP11, the 32-year-old securing seventh on the grid for the 25-lap race.

But the nine-times world champion made it clear Ducati is still a long way from competing for race wins in MotoGP after he set a best time of 1.43.223 earlier today.

Ducati’s technical guru Filippo Preziosi is present in Catalunya and Rossi told MCN: “We speak a lot with Filippo. Firstly I need more experience with this bike. More than difficult to ride, it’s different to ride against all the other bikes in my career.

“I need to improve my style and also my team have to sooner and better understand the modifications to the setting. We have good potential but a lot of small problems to fix. The areas where we can improve the bike become always more clear.

“I’m talking about grip on the front and also stability in acceleration. The bike always moves too much and Ducati is at work. Now they have a way to follow and we have to wait. I hope some parts come as soon as possible.”

Rossi opted to run Ducati’s new heavier crankshaft GP11 motor today and he plans to race it tomorrow.

The improvement was only marginal and he said: “I am happy because it is a help, especially because the bike is better in acceleration and you can control better with the throttle.”

Rossi had crashed heavily at Turn 5 this morning when he lost the front, though he was able to walkaway unhurt.

Explaining the spill he said: “It was a strange crash but it is because the setting was wrong and I am not able to put enough temperature into the front tyre and I don’t have enough grip.

“When I arrived on the left I had a hard front tyre on and the temperature was a bit more down and I lost the front very aggressive like in the wet and not with big lean angle.”