Rossi shrugs off Brno breakdown but ends day slowest Yamaha

VALENTINO ROSSI says he can be satisfied with his first day back in action at the Czech Republic MotoGP in Brno despite suffering issues with his Monster Yamaha M1.

Kicking off the second half of his 2019 MotoGP campaign at the scene of his maiden GP win 23 years ago, Rossi is seeking an upturn in fortunes this weekend following a disappointing run of form in the run up to the summer break.

Indeed, things didn’t go to plan to Rossi all day as his ‘old’ first bike suffered a smoky demise in FP2. He re-joined the fray to go ninth quickest and secure a provisional direct route into Q2 but he’d end the day slower than Maverick Vinales and both Petronas SRT Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo and  Franco Morbidelli.

“I had a problem with the engine of the first bike, it was a bit old. We don't know what happened, but anyway it was broken. The forecast for tomorrow is not fantastic, so it's important to stay in the top-10. 

“We are ninth, so we can await tomorrow's weather, and if it's wet, we are already in Q2. If not, we also need to push tomorrow morning. Anyway, the pace and the lap time are not so bad. It was quite good for the first day.”

Vinales, meanwhile, had reason to be cheerful with a strong run to the fifth fastest time in FP2 that he believes places him comfortably in the mnix for qualifying. 

“Honestly, I’m really happy about today, because we worked hard for the race. So, if it rains tomorrow we have the work done, and I think we did it in a good way. The race pace is really good and I felt quite good with the bike. 

“I set my lap time a little earlier than the rest, which can be a little bit tricky, but I needed to do it so I could concentrate on working on the race. In the last part of the practice we worked on the race distance and it felt good, the bike was working well. 

“The tyre degradation is difficult for everyone, the tyres drop so much, so we need to understand which spec drops the least over 20 laps. It’s difficult, but we will see what we can do.”