Qatar GP Free Practice 1: 2nd place

Rossi comes second in the first evening’s practice before the Qatar GP, with a time of 1m 55.707, 0.156s slower than teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Rossi achieves his best time time on his final lap of 17. As well as timing, Rossi is working on improving the balance of his YZR-M1 to better improve his feeling with the Michelin tyres.

The first practice was positive. I‘m quite satisfied, it was a strong way to start the season, because the second position is good and also the lap times are already not so bad. They’re in the 1‘55s and the pace is quite good. We start working from what we did in the test. This means that we did a good job during pre-season and we begin with a good base, but now we have to keep focus. The condition of the track changes a lot session by session and together with the team we have to deliver good work so we will be ready when the grip becomes better. I‘ll try to improve the feeling and also try to make the right decision for the tyres.