No regrets for Rossi after Australia

Valentino Rossi said that he had no regrets after finishing fourth at the Australian Grand Prix. His title lead over Jorge Lorenzo was reduced to 11 points after a thrilling race at Phillip Island and afterwards the Italian said that while he wasn’t happy to miss out on the podium the race was an incredible scrap that showcased how great MotoGP can be.

“It’s a great shame,” admitted Rossi. “I’m not happy. Especially not to be on the podium because this was a great race: From the beginning of the race it was a very hard rhythm with a lot of overtaking, a lot of different riders. It was a shame also to unfortunately lose seven points on Jorge, especially because my speed was very, very good today in the race and I can also arrive in front. So for this I’m not happy, but for the rest yes.

“Especially for my bike and my performance in the race. I think it is our fault – me and my team – because yesterday we did some mistakes, we lost a lot of time following different settings that didn’t bring us anything. When you lose [time] like this in MotoGP, you arrive in qualifying not ready and for sure if I start more in front it can be a different race today. But it is our fault and we cannot cry, regret, just remember because next week we have another crucial race in Sepang. But from one side I’m happy because we have a good potential and in the race we were very strong.” 

Sunday’s race at Sepang gives Rossi his first opportunity to clinch a tenth world title but he’ll need luck on his side to do so. It’s far more likely that the world title fight will go down to the wire at the season closing Valencia Grand Prix.