Valentino Rossi has blamed a lack of feeling in his front tyre on a wet-but-drying track for his uncompetitive showing in Phillip Island qualifying, his worst Saturday performance in five years. The Italian suffered a disastrous Saturday in Australia, failing to make the automatic Q2 cut after ending up 12th in third practice, and then ending up only fifth fastest in Q1. As a result, Rossi will start 15th for Sunday’s race, his worst qualifying performance since lining up 17th for the Aragon Grand Prix in 2011. His factory Yamaha teammate Lorenzo didn’t fare much better, making it out of Q1 but ending up slowest in Q2 to line up on 12th on the grid. Looking back on a nightmare session,...
Full Story »