MotoGP Silverstone: Rossi ‘stronger in wet conditions than dry’

Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi believes he will have to come up with one of his occasional warm-up magic bullets at Silverstone’s MotoGP round tomorrow if the day turns out dry as the Italian is not strong enough to challenge for the win.

The Doctor says he is pleased he is on the front row as that will make his life easier in a dry race - which he would prefer - but says his wet pace is much better.

“At this moment, I’m stronger in the wet but I prefer always dry, like or less everybody. Now, we need to try to be strong on the dry. We can modify some things and I hope it will be dry for tomorrow, but dry also from the morning so we can try some things in the warm-up and also the tyre choice is unclear for a lot of riders,” said Rossi, speaking at the track.

“This front row is important for tomorrow if it will be dry because we are not very strong on the dry, we need to work and try to improve. If our pace is not fantastic, to start from the front row can be a small help for the race.”

Although Rossi showed very good consistency in free practice three, the fronty soft tyre is experiencing a fast grip drop and the harder-compound Michelin is making his M1 difficult to ride even with the improved stability of the new chassis.

“First of all we are not very good with the tyres. With the front, I have a good feeling with the soft, but difficult mid-race and the other tyres that I try make the bike more difficult to ride. Also with the rear it is the same, the soft provides good grip but it is difficult for all the race and I need to stay a little bit much on the edge to make the corner. For this reason, I think the tyres suffer and now we will try to understand tomorrow morning what we can do.

“After seven or eight laps, the problems start and you need to last 20 laps. It looks like the top three especially, Iannone, Vinales and Marquez can stay constant, so we need to try something to be strong in the second part of the race.

“We needed the free practice four to understand the tyres, especially the front with the normal conditions, so we hope for dry warm-up tomorrow morning but I don’t know if it’s enough to try the medium or hard front. After you have to decide and risk and be lucky to make the right choice.”