A challenging weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya resulted in Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales securing eighth and tenth place respectively at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya.
GRAND PRIX OF CATALUNYA
Montmeló, Spain – 11th June 2017
RACE
Montmeló (Spain), 11th June 2017 – A slippery Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya race resulted in valuable championship points for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team‘s Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales, after a challenging weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Rossi had a good opening lap, moving up one place to twelfth but had to give back the place as he got into a fight with Johann Zarco. The Doctor progressed to tenth by passing Scott Redding and making a brilliant move at the start of lap 4, overtaking Jack Miller and Hector Barbera at the same time.
Having breached into the top-10, the Italian set a personal best lap in his attempt to cut through the field. Finding himself behind Zarco on lap 5, he put his head down and overtook the fellow Yamaha rider less than a lap later. With Aleix Espargaró retiring from the race, Rossi was lying in eighth, but a mistake on lap 10 saw him move back behind Zarco.
Rossi was eager to follow the Frenchman past Jorge Lorenzo and Alvaro Bautista, but suffered a sudden tyre drop and was unable to keep in touch with the battle for sixth. A late crash by Danilo Petrucci saw him cross the line in eighth place, 20.821s from the front.
It was a lonely ride for teammate Viñales during the Catalan Grand Prix: his solid efforts today were overshadowed by a lack of grip. He started the race cautiously from ninth on the grid to slot into 16th position after the first couple of corners. Though unable to get a good feeling in the opening laps, he moved up one position and defended it from the pursuing riders.
As Espargaró retired from the race, the number 25 rider advanced to 14th place. Three laps later he felt his tyres come to him and was ready to start his attack, followed soon by an overtake on Redding on lap 12.
With Miller crashing out and slipping past Cal Crutchlow on lap 20, the Factory Yamaha rider saw a possible top10 finish in his future and put his head down. He overtook Barbera with 4 laps to go for tenth, and briefly rode in ninth position when Petrucci ended his race prematurely, but a last lap fight again with Barbera had Viñales take the chequered flag in tenth position, 24.189s from first, scoring six vital points for the championship.
Rossi‘s eighth place earned him eight points, making 83 in total, which puts him in fifth place in the standings, 28 points behind his teammate, who leads the championship by 7 points. The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team also hold the lead in the team standings by 22 points, whilst Yamaha remains the top manufacturer in the Constructor’s Championship by a 14-point margin.
The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back at the Barcelona track tomorrow for a one-day Official IRTA Test.
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR
We expected today‘s race to be particularly challenging for us, as we encountered some difficulties in all practice sessions. We knew that under such circumstances like today – hot weather and low-grip asphalt – our bike is not as competitive as we‘ve seen it in other races. Eighth and tenth is not exactly what we were aiming for, but they‘re valuable points for the championship and now we put this race in our archive and focus on the next races. It‘s good that we are staying in Montmeló for tomorrow‘s test, so we‘ll be in the position to get immediate feedback about the new materials our engineers have developed. They‘ve brought two new frames with the aim to improve the performance of the bike in situations like today‘s and we will be back soon on the highest step of the podium.
VALENTINO ROSSI
+20.821 / 25 LAPS
I was really sad today, because I won here last year and also it is one of my favourite tracks. We knew it was going to be a difficult weekend, as we had some problems during the practice sessions due to the temperature of the asphalt and the level of grip. The race today wasn‘t positive, but I did my best to take as many points for the championship as possible. Tomorrow we will have an important test, where we will try many things, so this is positive. I hope that for the next two back-to-back races we will be able to return to the front.
MAVERICK VIÑALES
+24.189 / 25 LAPS
It was a really difficult day, but there are some days that you just have to get the points and that‘s what we did. Tenth place was the best we could do, for sure that‘s not our normal placement, but for today that was the best and we have to be happy with the six points we took today and at least we are still first in the championship. We will continue to work hard to get a better result in the next races.
