MotoGP Le Mans: Valentino Rossi: “My speed and potential was not so bad”

A crash at turn 3 saw Rossi crash out of the FrenchGP which is his third DNF in three races.

It was a brutal crash in wet conditions, no warning no nothing, his rear tyre slid out from underneath him and left him on the deck with riders behind him looking to avoid him as well as they could.

The crash is now his third crash in a row after crashing in the Misano 2 and Catalan races, relegating him down to 13th in the championship which is his worst ever MotoGP season to date, this is his fourth DNF of the season, finishing just 5 of the 9 races we have raced so far.

“It’s a great shame, a crash like this at the first corner, leaves you not understanding your potential and if you can be fast with the bike. Nothing.” Said Rossi in disbelief of the crash.

“I started well and was in a good position but in the second corner I entered very slowly like everyone, we were very ‘quiet’ because there were very difficult conditions, very cold but unfortunately I lost the rear, it’s a shame because I am also a bit unlucky in this period because in these last 3 races we took no points.”

The weather has been tough on all the riders this weekend, seeing many riders crash out of the race in tricky conditions including Alex Rins and Franco Morbidelli with Turns 2 and 3 taking the most victims.

“My speed and potential was not so bad, for me, we suffer in these conditions with the M1 and the other 3 Yamaha riders had a difficult race, it’s very hard as we suffer with the rear.”

We follow this race weekend going to Aragon, a track Rossi has had some but not lots of success at, taking 3 podiums in the 10 races which have been held at the track with various P8’s and the like, “Aragon is historically a difficult track for me so will be more challenging to be strong, this year I am very fast with a good feeling on the bike so we need to understand if we can raise our performance in Aragon.”

It is clear that the goal now is to finish the race at Aragon, a track which normally is quite dry, however given the fact that we are racing there so late into the year, anything could happen.

Featured image – www.motogp.com