‘I need to start in top five’

Due to wet conditions Rossi completes a series of practice starts at pit exit, but does not set a time in the morning session. He comes sixth in afternoon practice, 0.644 seconds behind Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, but within two tenths of team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Unfortunately this morning we had wet conditions and for going on the track it was quite useless because it was half and half, so not enough for the wet tyres but too damp for the slicks. For the afternoon, we had quite good conditions but it was quite cold and the track didn’t provide fantastic grip after yesterday’s rain. But at the end of practice it was not so bad…But at the same time the first 10 people are very close so for tomorrow we need to try and improve, especially in the second part of the track where I am not very fast…We need to improve and improve the feeling. I don’t have enough rear grip and I have to wait too long to open the throttle and especially with the exit from the last corner, I lose too much. It’s very, very important if I want a chance to fight at the top [in the race], I need to start in the top five. First row is more important, for sure. But also top five is OK.