British Grand Prix: Valentino Rossi slow and frustrated

Valentino Rossi admitted he was way too slow and deeply frustrated after he endured a nightmare qualifying session at the Silverstone circuit today.

The Italian will start tomorrow’s 20-lap British Grand Prix from only 13th position on the grid as he struggled with corner entry grip on his factory Ducati GP11.

The nine-times world champion could only clock a best time of 2.05.781 to finish a massive 3.761s behind dominant Repsol Honda rival Casey Stoner.

Only Toni Elias and Loris Capirossi were slower and it was a humbling experience for Rossi, who has yet to qualify higher than seventh place for Ducati in 2011.

Rossi said: “I’m more disappointed than angry. I’m frustrated. We don’t expect to be on the front row but I expected to be closer. It is quite frustrating because we modify the bike but we don’t fix the problem.

“It was a very difficult day for us and the worst weekend so far since the beginning of the season. I expect in Silverstone that I have to struggle more than in the last races, but this time we struggle a lot.

“Unfortunately we try a lot of different things in the setting but I am always very, very slow and I’m not able to ride like I want to make my lines. Where I lose the most is on the entry to the corner

” I am so slow. I lose a lot braking and entering the corner. I’m not able to carry enough speed going into the corner, so it is not a question of the bumps or the temperature.

“If I try to enter faster I am not able to stay on line. It is a bit of feeling but it is more that I can’t go where I want with the bike. I can’t do a good line for the sequence of the corners and we lose a lot in the fast corners. Our performance is very low and we are not fast enough.

“Also compared to the other Ducatis we have a big disadvantage and we try a lot of things to improve the setting. But we never find the right solution and tomorrow it will be very hard.

“Maybe in the wet we can stay a bit closer but it is not like the last few races where we have been fast in the rain. We have something else to try for tomorrow but I don’t think it is the answer to fix all of our problems.”