NO GLORY FOR HOME HEROES
Rossi and Dovisiozo both off the pace and out of answers at their home grand prix
ADucati disaster and a lacklustre Valentino Rossi conspired to deliver a double dose of disappointment for home fans at Misano. Despite an upgraded YZR-M1 dripping with carbon fibre Rossi extended a losing streak that dates back to the 2017 Dutch TT. In his own backyard before a mass of yellow-clad fans Rossi came fourth, 12 seconds behind Honda rival Marc Marquez. Worse, Rossi was hammered by rookie Fabio Quartararo on a standard Petronas SRT M1 running 500rpm less than the full factory spec bikes.
And after claiming a glorious home victory last year, Ducati also had a shocker with 2018 winner Andrea Dovizioso slumping to sixth place. Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi said the main issue was a ‘track cleaning’ programme akin to sandblasting - that had totally changed Misano’s grip. But he added Ducati won’t hit the panic button for the coming races claiming the Misano result skews their real potential.
“It was a completely different surface because of the cleaning treatment,” he said. “This put all our bikes and riders in trouble. “We had no grip on the edge of the tyre due to the surface change. Last year we won and you can’t disappear like this in one year. We know sixth and 13 seconds behind is not our real position but we have to accept this problem because it was the same for everyone and clearly Yamaha and Marquez – not Honda – did something better than us,” he admitted. Maverick Viñales (third) and Franco Morbidelli (fourth) made it four Yamahas in the top five. Rossi admitted he needed to discover why Quartararo and Viñales were both faster while he suffered with corner exit acceleration despite using the new carbon fibre swingarm. “Fabio and Maverick accelerate better, are able to open the throttle with more grip and exit from the corner better,” he said. “We modified the balance of the bike and it looks like we improved but it is not enough.” None of the upgraded kit carbon swingarm, dual outlet exhaust and front wheel spoiler was available to Quartararo and Morbidelli at the weekend. “Fabio is able to take the fast corners at a very high speed and with very little effort. I don’t know how. This is his strong point,” Morbidelli said.
‘It looks like we improved but it’s not enough’