Movistar Yamaha rider salvages eighth in challenging Aragon grand prix.
Following a disastrous qualifying session at the Aragon grand prix that saw Valentino Rossi wind up in 18th position, the Italian ace says working in a different direction allowed him to fight for a top 10 position in Sunday’s race.
The multi-time world champion fought through the field in the 23-lap encounter, making a move on Australia’s Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) in the final laps to salvage eighth.
The Movistar Yamaha rider made a number of drastic changes to his YZR-M1 that enhanced his performance, although he’s still frustrated that it took maximum effort to be challenging just inside the top 10.
“Today we also modified the bike a lot – we tried working in another way,” Rossi explained. “Already from this morning I tried to feel a little bit better, so my feeling with the bike improved and we could make some adjustments for the race. The end of the race was better than what I expected, because I wasn’t particularly fast, but my pace was consistent.
“I was able to recover a lot of positions – because I started from the back of the grid – to take some points for the championship. From one point of view, it’s better than it was yesterday, but from another, our technical situation is quite difficult, because we have to fight to the maximum to be inside the top-10 at the moment.”
Rossi still hangs onto third in the MotoGP World Championship rankings, 15 points behind Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso.