VINALES LAYS DOWN
Sets fastest time as teammate Rossi struggles
DOHA
Rossi, a four-time winner in Qatar, admitted his Yamaha was struggling to match the pace of Vinales, who was only two years old when the great Italian won his first world title on a 125cc machine in 1997.
“The performance was not fantastic, but I’m in the top 10 and this is good because we don’t know what the conditions will be like tomorrow,” said Rossi, who was hoping to find pace yesterday when rain was expected to sweep the track.
“With the softer tyre I thought I would be able to push a bit more and improve by some tenths, but with the race pace we are a bit far behind and we have to find something better.”
Marquez, who has won three of the last four world titles and triumphed under the Qatar floodlights in 2012 and 2014, admitted that Vinales was the man to beat in tomorrow’s race.
“Maverick is really fast but it was to be expected,” said the Spaniard. AFP