Valentino Rossi may have only taken fifth place in last night’s free practice in Qatar and was off pace by 0.
767s but it was his best outing so far on the Ducati GP11, and a big booster shot in in the arm for the hardworking team’s moral and even for his adoring fans, who were already writing off this 2011 season.
If Rossi can continue this upward progess and his shoulder hold out, he actually might get closer (we’re now writing off Pedrosa’s being so far back yesterday, now that we know he had a bad tire) and contest for a podium spot, but only if the stars and moon align just like on his new helmet, and if he get’s a good starting place during qualifying.
“We’re all pretty satisfied with this first free practice because we worked well throughout the entire session, progressively improving with each outing,” said Valentino Rossi.
“We modified the setup a little compared to the test, and we immediately found it to be better, to the point that within just a few laps, I improved on my time from Monday.
The last run was particularly positive and my final lap time, done with a hard tyre that had 19 laps on it, was my best, a bit more than a tenth off of second place.
We know that if we want to have a good race on Sunday, we have to cut another five tenths, and we’ll try to do that tomorrow.
Anyway, although we still have to improve some more things on the bike, now I don’t have to push so hard and it is turning better.
The shoulder is holding up well.
It was only at the end that it started to lose a little strength, and tomorrow we’ll see how it reacts with two practice sessions.
In any case, we’re happy today.
”Nicky Hayden started the session well, but couldn’t improve his lap times and towing and getting baulked Hector Barbera certainly didn’t help him.
Nicky Hayden:“It was certainly nice to be back in action that counted a bit more.
We had a bit of wind, and the temperature wasn’t really high, but for as much sand as we’ve seen blowing around the last couple of days, the track was in great condition.
The session started out pretty well.
I immediately went out with a hard rear tyre and a soft front, which isn’t my favorite setup, and I was able to match my lap time from the test by the fourth lap.
I felt quite good, but from there, I never really was able to improve much.
Obviously everybody else got quicker, so I’m not thrilled with that time.
The bike was similar to how it was in the test.
We’ve got some more opportunities before Sunday night, so we’ll keep trying to improve.
”
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