Rossi demands action in time for Phillip Island
Added on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Rossi demands action in time for Phillip Island
Valentino Rossi admitted that there was work to do before Phillip Island after a poor performance at Estoril.
Rossi was reportedly furious with Yamaha mechanics after finishing fourth at Estoril, refusing to speak to the media for close to three hours as the team tried to work out just what went wrong as teammate Jorge Lorenzo cut the gap in the championship to 18 points.
It later transpired that a lack of rear grip was the reason for the world champion finishing a massive 23.428 seconds behind the race winner and the first time that he has failed to make the podium at Estoril.
“It was a very difficult race for me,” Rossi said. “I was never able to be fast because I did not have enough grip in the rear and our tyre did not work well, but I think it was more a problem of setting. After a few laps I was in great difficulties and I immediately understood that this was not going to be our race.
“Throughout the practice sessions I had some problems but I thought that today I would be able to at least stay with Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, but they made another step forward for the race and then there was no chance for me. On Friday I was three tenths off the pace and unfortunately this stayed the same all weekend and in the race today.
“Here in Estoril we struggled last year as well, so it might be that,” he added. “With our setting, the rear tyre gets very hot and this causes a lack of grip. It is a pity that I am off the podium, but we have three more races. We must think race by race and we must work to understand what the problem was today in order to make sure that we fix it in time for Phillip Island.”
