Spain Friday Free Practice: 3rd, 5th place

In the first session, Rossi completes 21 laps of free practice, the second most laps of any rider, ending the session in third place 0.406s behind leader Jorge Lorenzo. Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) places second. In the second session Rossi places fifth after 20 laps and a 0.727s gap with Lorenzo, who leads the practice again.

I always try to work on the first laps because it’s very important, the top riders are very strong from the beginning, especially [Jorge] Lorenzo. I feel good with the bike. Last year I was more in trouble for finding the right balance. It looks like this year we work well with the team and we can be strong from the beginning. This is very important, but anyway it’s more important to be strong on Sunday.