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Rossi has strong start for Yamaha

Posted by Staff

Friday, 11 April 2008

ROSSI MAKES STRONG START DESPITE MORNING UPSET IN ESTORIL

Valentino Rossi finished the first day of practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix in confident mood today, riding his Fiat Yamaha Team M1 to second place on a day of contrasting weather conditions at Estoril. The Italian, the most successful rider in MotoGP history at this circuit, was luckily unhurt in a nasty crash during this morning’s wet first practice session and went on to make some good progress this afternoon, finishing the day just 0.040 seconds off the leader.

After heavy rain overnight and showers throughout the morning, the track was very wet for the first session. It was only the second real chance for Rossi and his crew to try the Bridgestone wet-weather tyres and this, added to the fact that there has been no pre-season testing at this track, meant it was a less-than-straightforward session for last year’s winner and his crew. His crash came mid-way through the practice but he was unhurt and was able to continue on his second bike, finishing second and quite pleased with his wet-weather pace. This afternoon’s session was a much cheerier affair with the sun and wind combining to dry the track out almost completely, and Rossi took full advantage to work on his set-up and tyres, finishing with a best time of 1’38.547. His team-mate Lorenzo was fifth in a time of 1’38.868.

Valentino Rossi:

“I am happy about today’s result. To be second in both sessions, in the wet and the dry, is not bad at all and the conditions were quite difficult! My Bridgestone tyres in the wet worked very well and I had a great feeling, so I’m really happy about this. Maybe I had a bit too much feeling in fact because I was pushing a little bit too hard when I fell! It was quite a big crash and I hit the ground hard but fortunately I am fine and I just have a bit of pain in my hip. After that with my second bike I was able to go even faster so this made me very happy. This afternoon was good again, even if the track wasn’t perfect and the wind was tricky, but this is Estoril and we know that the weather can always change from minute to minute so we have to be ready to adapt. Tomorrow we need to keep improving, whatever the weather, and be ready to fight in any conditions! Thanks to my team for working very hard to rebuild my bike, it was a big job!”

from Fiat Yamaha press

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