MotoGP news

Rossi struggles at Valencia

It was a difficult day for Rossi in Valencia, who has a somewhat turbulent history with this tight and twisty Spanish circuit. The Italian and his crew were unable to come up with a set-up today that gave them enough grip to allow him to ride as he would like and they are faced with some hard work overnight to improve the situation.

A better flying lap near the end of the session was good enough to secure him fourth on the grid so he will be in touch to challenge tomorrow, as long as he is able to make a step forward in warm-up. Rossi's fourth position today sealed him the 2009 best qualifier award, for which he will receive the prize of a new car.

Speaking about today's qualifying session Rossi said: "Today was not the best day for us. We haven't found the right setting for the bike yet, we've tried hard but we don't have enough grip yet to allow us to go fast. I have to start on the second row and we have quite a big question mark for tomorrow's race. At the end of the session I was able to do some better laps with the softer tyre but unfortunately with these conditions we will have to use the harder tyre tomorrow.

"We will work tonight and again in the morning warm-up and hopefully we can find a way to improve so that we can race as we would like to. I'm happy about the qualifying award, at least we have one positive thing to take from today!"

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