Aragon MotoGP: Third row not a disaster, says Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi brushed off a crash that left him on the third row of the grid at the end of qualifying at a cool and cloudy Motorland Aragon this afternoon.

Rossi lost the front-end of his factory Ducati GP12 on the entry to the second corner and after walking away unhurt he returned to the track to set a best time of 1.50.949.

That was only good enough to secure seventh place on the grid and the 33-year-old finished a massive 1.545s behind Jorge Lorenzo in pole position.

Rossi, who scored his best dry result for Ducati in Misano earlier this month when he took second place behind Lorenzo, told MCN: “It was very important to get some dry time today because we need some laps in these conditions if the race will be dry.

“But it is the opposite of Misano and we have a small disadvantage to all the riders from Yamaha and Honda who came here for the test.  I am starting in the third row, which is not a disaster, but I am too far from pole position in the times.

“Unfortunately I crashed which cost us some valuable time but I’m lucky and I am OK. We have to improve the bike for acceleration and traction because it is difficult to get good traction at this track. 

“It is difficult to understand my rhythm and that of the guys close to me and see our potential in the race.”

Explaining what had happened in the spill, Rossi added: “I think that it was the first flying lap and it was the first right corner and the front tyre was not up to temperature.

“I also had a small wheelie in the change of direction, so maybe the front tyre was not touching the ground enough and I lost the front.”