Valentino Rossi says that he was ‘happy’ to display leading pace in the Malaysian grand prix at Sepang, in which he scored his first top five result since Misano in September.
Rossi looked to be firmly at the rear of the Yamaha contingent in terms of raw pace, having qualified sixth over half-a-second behind factory team-mate Maverick Vinales and the Petronas SRT satellite duo, who locked out the front row.
The Italian looked much more comfortable in the race though, out-pacing the both Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli on the SRT M1’s and challenging Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati for the final podium spot.
He ultimately came up short as he was unable to contend with the GP19’s power advantage, but still secured a strong fourth-albeit six seconds back from the race-winning Vinales.
Rossi says that he also struggled to compete with the Ducati in the braking zones, but was satisfied to at least secure the fastest lap of the contest-a new all-time race record.
“Yeah I’m happy anyway because for us it was a good race, especially considering our speed and our result in the previous race,” said Rossi.
“I wanted to try for the podium, because for sure the podium is another story, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to beat Dovi.
“I did the lap record, this is good.
“For sure I was coming from a little bit of the rear on the grid, so I lost a bit of time at the beginning because I was fast. But I enjoyed (it), it was a good weekend.
“Dovi in braking was good, he was strong, but I was faster in the long corners for example.
“I tried a few times but after on the straight he always re-passed. I was at the maximum. For sure I tried the maximum because third and fourth is very different, being on the podium is a lot better. But anyway, it was a good race.”
The nine-time MotoGP world champion said he was encouraged by the performance of his M1 through the many of Sepang’s fast bends, but conceded Yamaha still had work to do regarding tyre performance over a race distance.
“I’m very happy to be strong because also, physically, it’s for sure the hardest race of the season, this is important.
“The layout of the track is good for the M1 because you have a lot of long, fast corners and in those places our bike is good.
“Our bike is very good in qualifying with the new tyres, we are very strong in this regard.
“In the race we suffer a little bit more because we do the lap time on the edge so for sure we stress the tyres more. And also we have a lack of speed so when you fight with the faster bike, it’s very difficult to manage when you are not alone. But Yamaha are working hard, so maybe we can improve.”
