Petronas Yamaha SRT rider Valentino Rossi happy with progress made on the opening day of the third MotoGP test in Qatar. The Italian got lost in the course of the day, with tyres he couldn’t use and on a bike whose potential he was struggling to gauge.
Two days of rest and work later, Rossi took to the track on a different dynamic on Wednesday. The Doctor has been one of the busiest Yamaha riders when it comes to testing the new chassis so far.
“Even if I shouldn’t be happy with a 13th place, it was a good day because we made progress compared to the two previous days: the fast lap and the pace are better. I think we are doing well, but the best are a bit faster so there is still work to be done.” Rossi said.
“We tried new things with the chassis and the fairing, which I liked and it’s good to improve the bike, so it’s been a positive day. We made progress everywhere, but especially in grip, and that brightened up my day.
“The new chassis is better, we turn better. It’s not the same feel as the one from 2019, but it’s much closer to it than the one from 2020, so it has some bright spots. I tried different things for the aerodynamics. We have improved the top speed a lot, although the Ducatis are still 10 km / h faster.” Rossi added.
Rossi’s P20 on Day 2 didn’t really reflect good feelings, the nine-time world champion seemed upbeat as he and Yamaha go through plenty of different things to try.
“For me the second day of the test [Sunday] I had a lot of problems with the tyres because I don’t have very good grip, I suffer very, very much. Today looks like the tyres were better.” Rossi said.
“The chassis is good and helped me improve the pace. And I also improved the riding style, because I have also some corners where I was not strong enough, especially in entry.” he added.
