Brno MotoGP: Valentino Rossi angry after mistake

Valentino Rossi was left cursing a crucial late mistake that the Italian believes robbed him of the chance to challenge for only his second pole position of the season.

The reigning world champion was looking to elevate himself up from fifth on the grid in the closing stages when he lost the front-end of his Fiat Yamaha at the penultimate corner.

Luckily the crash was on a left hand corner and didn’t aggravate Rossi’s recovering broken right leg that is still well short of 100 per cent fitness. 

The 31-year-old finished fifth with a best time of 1.57.059 and he said: “Apart from the mistake it was a positive day for me because I am fast and competitive, especially this afternoon because this morning it was dangerous conditions. This afternoon I pushed more and I stayed most of the session in the top three. I felt good with the bike and we improved a lot the setting and also I feel good with my body. I have some pain but I am able to ride quite well.  With the second soft tyre I was 0.2s faster than my best lap, so it was already a front row time. And I think on the second lap it was possible to go two or three tenths faster, so without the mistake I could battle for the front row with no problem. But I made the mistake and now I have to start from the second row and that will be more difficult for me, especially in my condition. The important thing is that the setting is quite good and I think I will be competitive for the race. “I was very upset because we worked well during the practice and I had the potential maybe also to fight for the pole position.”

The nine-times world champion though was relieved to have crashed in such circumstances.

It was his first tumble since the spectacular high-side in early June at Mugello that left him with a compound fracture of his right tibia.

But he said he was happy to have escaped any further damage and added: “I am very happy because if you have to crash then this is the best way. You aren’t scared and I just slid a little bit. “I crashed in a good part on the left side so it was no problem and I am happy for this.”

Explaining what has caused the crash that left him over half-a-second off Dani Pedrosa’s pole position time, Rossi said: “I tried to make the corner with a bit more speed, but compared to the best lap it was only 0.7ks faster but maybe it is too much. I think it was too much lean angle.

Rossi’s big money switch to Ducati will be confirmed after tomorrow’s 22-lap race.