MotoGP: Rossi disappointed with final day of testing

Valentino Rossi has been left disappointed by his final day of testing action of the 2017 preseason, after failing to capitalise on improvements made on the second day and failing to go any faster.

Rossi, who has had an up and down preseason, made a big step forwards on the second day of the Qatar test after working to change the weight distribution of his Movistar Yamaha, but couldn’t make the most of it to finish higher up the timesheets than sixth.

“Today was more difficult compared to yesterday. We started with the same bike to continue our programme, but unfortunately I didn’t have the same feeling and the same speed. It looks like the condition of the track changed a bit and we were unable to improve. I didn’t have the same feeling as yesterday and I was a bit slower.

“We put in a lot of effort to go a bit slower. I think we are still not ready, we don’t understand 100% how to make the bike work at the maximum. We are a bit worried because at the end except for some good laps the winter tests were very difficult. So now we have to speak together and try to be stronger for the first race. I hope to be faster and more competitive.”

However, with Rossi sixth and teammate Maverick Viñales an impressive fastest overall, completing a clean sheet of all four tests, team boss Massimo Meregalli says they’re delighted as a team with where they’re at.

“This test has been crucial for us in order to prepare for the first round of the season and all in all we are satisfied. After the very positive results yesterday, we resumed our work on the bikes’ set-up today, mainly focusing on race simulations. We finalised our testing programme by making some final adjustments to the settings as Maverick completed a very strong longer run, while Vale had to cut his run short.

“Maverick kept up his fast lap times over the last three days, during both the time attacks and the race simulation, and this gives us great confidence for the first race. After yesterday‘s good performance, Valentino encountered some problems with his bike‘s set-up today. His engineers will draw a comparison between yesterday and today‘s endeavours to find out what amendments to the setting did and didn‘t work. Having concluded this last test, we feel eager to start the season in two weeks’ time.”