Motegi MotoGP: Valentino Rossi frustrated to miss second row

Valentino Rossi was left frustrated after the Italian missed equalling his best Ducati qualifying result of a tough 2011 by just 0.256s at the Twin Ring Motegi today.

The 32-year-old clocked a best time of 1.46.467 to move into sixth place on the grid in the dying moments of this afternoon’s qualifying session.

But just when it looked like he would match his sixth place qualifying result in Brno in mid-August, Rossi’s close pal Marco Simoncelli relegated him back to seventh in the final seconds.

Rossi, who hadn’t qualified inside the top 10 at the last three races, said: “Today is quite a good day although nothing special. Both sessions were good but unfortunately Simoncelli beat us for the second row, which was my target. But I’m happy because I can ride the bike in a better way compared to the recent races.  We gained some rear grip in acceleration, so I can open the throttle early and at the end my target was 46.5 and I did 46.4, so I’m happy. I wasn’t happy losing the second row on the last lap but I’m confident with the bike. We have a better balance and it gives me a more natural riding style and we have something more clear about my position on the bike.  It is always difficult but with a good start I don’t have a bad pace for 24 laps.”

Rossi was happy with his own performance and progress with the set-up of his Ducati, which now features an aluminium frame to try and improve a vague front-end feeling that has plagued the nine-times world champion all season.

But he was still 1.2s away from Casey Stoner in pole position and he said: “Unfortunately the guys in front made some great lap times, so we are quite worried because the distance is too big. Like always we are closer with the race tyres but with the soft tyre the Honda and Yamaha improve more.  We are out of the fight for the pole position but looking to the race pace we are faster than (Ben) Spies and a little slower than Simoncelli but not far behind.”