Valentino Rossi seeks improved corner entry

Valentino Rossi believes he must improve the braking and corner entry performance of his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 to have a chance of a fourth successive podium this season at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

The 34-year-old Italian ended the opening day of practice in sixth place but a best time of 1.40.084 was only a fraction over 0.5s from rookie sensation Marc Marquez, who led the way.

The nine-times world champion is still trying to improve a corner entry issue caused by a lack of feeling while braking on the edge of the front Bridgestone tyre and he told MCN: “I am not very happy about my sixth position but I am quite happy about my lap time and everybody is very close. I reduced the gap to Marquez compared to the morning and also I am not so far behind Jorge (Lorenzo) but I have a couple of places where I am not so fast, especially in the last section where I am not very good. It is going to be hard because we are six or seven very close on the times.

With the Yamaha it looks like we are a bit too much at the limit with the front because in acceleration we have improved the bike. But in braking and entry, especially entry and braking on the edge we still have some problem. This track is difficult and always the Honda is very strong but all is not decided yet. We are very close and it depends a lot on who can improve the bike the best and all is open.”

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has not been the happiest hunting ground for Yamaha in recent history and during the opening day of practice, Honda dominated with the RC213V claiming a clean sweep of the top three.

Rossi gave his impressions on where he believes the Honda has the advantage and he added: “They are able to make the corner in a shorter time compared to us, especially the tight corners. They are able to turn the bike in less metres and pick the bike up and accelerate and that is the main difference.”