Former 1981 World Champion Marco Lucchinelli has known Valentino Rossi since he was in diapers and nicknamed him ‘virus’ because he was always bothering everyone in the paddock and asking a million questions.
Tonight Lucchinelli was co-hosting the Qatar commentary on Italia 2 and when he saw that Hector Barbera on the Valencia spec version of GP12 that Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden had discarded was faster the both the factory riders, he said that it is now time to harshly criticize the Italian so he gets hopping mad and starts pushing or he should leave.
Even if Rossi ended up behind both Barbera and his team mate, he ironically commented that the race is on Sunday and even if Barbera is riding well he probably posted that time by taking a tow (he did).
Nicky Hayden encountered chatter issues that left him in 7th: “As the track is cleaning up, we’re getting more grip, but in a way that’s hurting us since I’m also getting more chatter.
When that happens, I can’t keep my lean angle, and I run wide, especially in the flat corners.
We tried some different springs but haven’t found the right solution yet.
Chatter is so strange and inconsistent sometimes, but we’ll have a look at the data and do our best to sort it out.
My pace isn’t great, but although I’m not thrilled with how the day went, the bike is certainly doing well on top speed, which is going to be important in the race.
”Valentino Rossi isn’t even thinking of qualifying on the front row tomorrow evening, second row is the best he can hope for with the understeer problems that is his greatest issue at the moment (we’d say that it’s the gap):“Today went pretty well, and I’d say that the last session was the best.
The position is nothing fantastic, but on the positive side, I’m very consistent with the hard tyre.
The front of the bike is giving more feedback, so I can push more, which is very important, and the bike is very fast at the end of the straight.
The understeer is still there, but now I think we have a place from which to work.
We hope to improve two or three small things with the setting for tomorrow, and we’ll try to qualify on the second row.
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