Jerez MotoGP: Valentino Rossi content with third

Valentino Rossi declared himself satisfied with a hard fought third place in Jerez yesterday, despite surrendering the lead in the 2010 MotoGP world championship to factory Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.   

Rossi struggled with a weakened right shoulder after a recent motocross training accident and a lack of rear grip on his Fiat YZR-M1 machine to finish a close third behind an epic late scrap for the win between Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

Rossi had got a great start from the second row of the grid and found himself second behind the typically fast starting Pedrosa.

But Rossi was never close enough to mount an attack on the Repsol Honda rider and he was unable to keep Lorenzo at bay as the Spaniard mounted an incredible surge through the field.

Rossi was dropped back to third by Lorenzo on lap 22, though he almost caught Pedrosa in the final stages after a late rally.

The nine-times world champion eventually finished close to 0.4s adrift of Pedrosa and he said: “The podium is a good result for us because we know it is not our race. It is good to take some important points after the shoulder injury and for sure we struggled more than normal.

“Unfortunately we didn’t have the perfect setting for the race. I just didn’t have the pace to try and win. We have struggled all weekend, first with my shoulder and then with the bike, and in the race today I couldn’t do any more than third.

“I got a great start and was fast with the new tyre, I tried to go with Dani but then I started to slide a lot and I just had to play it safe. I tried to stay with Dani but in two or three parts of the track I lost too much.

“I always rode at the limit but when I entered the corner I wasn’t sure that I would exit. I made no mistakes and I’m happy about my race in the circumstances, these 16 points are very important.”

Rossi denied his right shoulder injury suffered just over two weeks ago had been a major issue and he added: “In the last ten laps it wasn’t easy but I didn’t have pain. I made a mistake one lap before the end.

“I lost the front and lost half a second and with that moment I lost the fight with Dani for second place because I was only 0.3s behind him.”

Rossi laughed when asked whether he had got a second wind at the prospect of the fierce fight between Lorenzo and Pedrosa ending with one or both crashing out of the race.

He was happy though to have a front row seat for the thrilling finale, with Lorenzo sealing victory with a pass on the last lap at the Curva Dry Sack.

Rossi said it was a great climax to a largely uninspiring race that only came to life in the final six laps.

Rossi added: “I remember a lot of times some great battles on the last lap but this is motorcycle racing. The last lap you have to try and pass. It was fun and I think Jorge was great and Dani tried to resist.

“The last laps of motorcycle races are like this. I had a front row seat for the Spanish party and it was a shame I couldn’t join in.”

Rossi’s third means he will go to Le Mans in France later this month trailing Lorenzo by four points.