Rossi’s Sunday recovery: P14 to P5

‘The Doctor’ produced yet another sensational race day performance to finish just 0.6 from the win in Qatar

It was another Sunday masterclass from Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) as he produced a great comeback ride from P14 on the grid to P5 at the chequered flag.

It wasn’t looking promising for the nine-time World Champion throughout the weekend, despite him topping FP1 on Friday morning. But, as ever with Rossi, he and his Yamaha team seemed to find that extra something come Sunday afternoon as he finished just 0.6 from race winner Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati):

“We work today from yesterday. We modified the setting of the bike and also for the race we make some other adjustments,” said ‘The Doctor’. “We worked well, I’m happy because it was a good race. I feel good with the bike today and I also enjoyed coming from the back so it’s not so bad.

“The problem is that my feeling is more or less like last year. So, I finish in fifth, that is good, especially because I was 0.6 off of the victory but at this track, we are always good so we have to keep working because in some other places maybe we’ll have more problems. But we’ll take this result. I tried for the podium, but I was not strong enough.”

A solid salvage job was done in Doha then, but what is Rossi hoping for at the next round in Argentina? 

“For me first of all in Argentina, I hope we get good conditions on the track because it’s always difficult. Especially we have good weather because last year the race was incredibly tricky with half and half conditions. It was very difficult to ride the bike with a slick on the wet patches, so we hope for good weather and we’ll see if we are strong.”