You are here

MotoGP, Rossi: this time Lorenzo made the right moves

Valentino looks to the future: "Yamaha hasn't won a race since Barcelona, we need to work towards next year"

Rossi: this time Lorenzo made the right moves

Share


The dream, already a long way off, has practically gone up in smoke at Aragon and there is no hiding the bitterness. There's not even the satisfaction of having beaten his team-mate. Valentino, after the race, starts to talk about the future and clearly lays out his hopes and doubts.

Let's start with the championship, you're now 52 points from Marquez...
I haven't lost it today, but after the first part of the season, with those three zeros. I'd managed to make up some of the points, but if it was difficult to think about the championship from 43 points back, it's now even harder. This doesn't mean I'll give up until I'm mathematically out of the fight”.

There's still second place of course, how important is that?
As it's the only thing I can fight for now, I'll make sure it's worth a lot (he laughs). Joking aside, it'll be a tough fight against Lorenzo, there's honour at stake”.

Today you lost out to him…
“We'd worked on the bike in order to be closer in the second half of the race, but it didn't work. Lorenzo rides very well at this track and in the final stages he was faster than me, he made the right moves this time”.

But it was only decided in the final minutes…
I'm disappointed about that braking error, I was sticking with him with gritted teeth, and had something up my sleeve for the last lap. But at turn 11 I made a mistake and realised that, if I didn't run wide, we may have made contact with each other. Honestly, I was more worried about what would happen after the contact (he laughs). Joking aside, it would have been dangerous”.

You led the race in the opening stages, did you think you could win?
When you're there you always think that. At the start, I got away really well and had fun in the mix. I also thought Lorenzo and Marquez were struggling a little, I hoped Marc might have a problem with the front tyre (he laughs)”.

Are you pleased with the podium anyway?
I've scored more important points, but am a little worried about the future. The M1 was the best bike at the start of the season, but we haven't won a race since Barcelona. In the meantime, the Honda has grown and with that they've been able to solve many different problems. We need to make a step forward”.

How can you do that?
Perhaps we can't , but we can build a solid base for next year. A lot also depends on the various tracks”.

Four to go…
I really like the next three and the Yamaha usually goes well there. It'll be important to not making mistakes and try to win”.

Translated by Heather Watson
__

Related articles