Rossi needs to "find something" to win race
ByAutoSport
Published 21/10/2017 at 09:14 GMT
Valentino Rossi admits he needs to "find something" if he is to have a chance of winning MotoGP's Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island after qualifying seventh.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Rossi had to fight his way through Q1 on Saturday as he finished outside the top 10 across the first three practice sessions, and eventually ended up 0.817-seconds behind polesitter Marc Marquez.
While the Yamaha rider finished second at Phillip Island last year despite starting from 15th on the grid, Rossi reckons a similar recovery this year will be much more difficult.
"Last year was a great race [and] I enjoyed it a lot," said Rossi, who is still recovering from the broken leg he suffered in late-August.
"But unfortunately this year, today, I am not fast like last year.
"We are not so far [off the pace] but at the same time I am not strong enough at this moment to make a good race to fight for the top position, so we need to find something.
"I am not in the first two rows, but anyway I am the first of the third [row] so I am not so far."
Rossi was also not satisfied with the setup of his bike, saying: "I was able to arrive at quite a good laptime very early [in qualifying], but after it was too much limit at the [corner] entry.
"Unfortunately I wasn't able to improve the last lap to be in the top five.
"I am not very happy about the setting of the bike - we have to try to make it better."
"I was a bit too much at the limit with the front and also I had the soft front that helped me in Q1, but for the Q2 it was the limit, it was all damage.
"Two or three degrees makes a big difference."
Rossi said he felt better in Saturday morning's wet FP3 session than he did throughout last weekend's rain-soaked Motegi round, but is nonetheless hoping for dry conditions in the Australian race.
"This morning in the rain when I went on full wet [tyres], I think I felt better compared to Motegi, I had a better feeling," he said.
"But when the track started to dry, [it] looks like we were not comfortable with the bike.
"So [I'm] hoping for good weather, for [the race to be] dry. "We have to wait [to see] the weather, we hope that at four o'clock [tomorrow] it will be good like today."
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