Valentino Rossi has put his mediocre position in Friday’s practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix down to a lack of grip on the harder rear tyre. In front of his home fans at Mugello, Rossi was sixth quickest in the opening morning session, before slipping to ninth in the afternoon, seven tenths off the pace set by Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and almost four tenths shy of Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo. The 36-year-old explained afterwards that the reason for his lacklustre showing was his difficulties using the hard compound rear Bridgestone tyre, which he sampled late on in the session while most other riders were improving their lap times on the medium tyre. “We started the...
Full Story »