Estoril MotoGP: Valentino Rossi happy with improved Michelin performance

Valentino Rossi is confident that new Michelin tyres he’s used on the opening day of the Estoril GP in Portugal are a big step in performance after his recent troubles.

The Italian has one new front and two new rear specification tyres in his Estoril allocation and he said the new rubber had helped close some of the gap on Michelin’s Japanese rivals Bridgestone.

The 28-year-old finished second quickest on race tyres in today’s opening two free practice sessions and said the bigger improvement had come from the tyres, rather than Yamaha’s new pneumatic valve YZR-M1 motor he is running again.

Rossi ended day one just 0.170s slower than Australian Casey Stoner, who once again dominated proceedings by clocking the fastest time in the morning and afternoon.

Rossi, who hasn’t finished on the podium since his victory in Assen at the end of June, said: “I am quite happy because the new stuff works quite well.

“It is a small difference but I always use the new engine and the performance is a little bit better. But I think the bigger improvement comes from the tyres.

“The new front has no disadvantage and some better things like giving more feeling and a better entry. And the new rear also I like a lot and I am able to go quite fast from the beginning.

“We are always around second place and in the afternoon not so far from Casey.

“I think about the rhythm we have more problems because the new tyres have some difficulty to do 28-laps at the maximum performance.

“I go quite fast also with the Misano style tyre, the old tyres. We have to decide tomorrow which one we use. But the Yamaha and Michelin tyre is quite good for this track.

“Also at the end of the straight the distance on top speed is just four to five kilometres, which is not very much for a long straight. I think it is possible to fight. Like in Misano we are quite competitive and here a little bit more because we are closer to the top.”

Rossi said the front tyre had improved in braking and corner speed and he added: “The new front gives me better grip when I brake hard and better feeling for entering the corner faster.

“Those two points are where we have a disadvantage to Bridgestone’s front, so it’s like we work in a good way. We are not at the same level but we are getting closer and that is important for us.”

He was happy with the upgrade in performance on the rear but admitted he still had doubts about the new spec tyre being competitive for the whole of Sunday’s 28-lap race.

“The new tyres give me enough grip to push from the first lap. The bigger difference between Michelin and Bridgestone is the grip from the beginning and it is like we are closer.

“We remain with a little bit of disadvantage with acceleration grip. But the new tyre gives me a good feeling to ride the bike and I can ride more easily and go faster.”