Valentino Rossi has blamed a “mistake with the rear tyre” pressure ahead of his final MotoGP qualifying run for stopping him advancing on ninth for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.
Rossi set the early pace in the Q2 pole shootout session, and was sitting in fifth when he headed for pitlane for to prepare for his final run.
However, a “mistake in the box” meant the pressure in his new rear tyre was wrong, and this saw him struggle for grip on his final run.
Managing a best of 1:45.265s for ninth, Rossi believes he could have been on the second row had it not been for this error.
“Unfortunately we did a mistake with the rear tyre in the box, with the pressure,” he said to BT Sport
“It’s a shame because with the first tyre I was not so bad, P5, and with the second tyre I could improve, so I think I could have started on the second row, which I think is my level.”
He added: “The day was not fantastic, but also not too bad, was a little bit average.
“My pace improve improve from yesterday, it's nothing great but we are five or six riders with a very similar pace. So the race tomorrow will be very open.
“Unfortunately I can do better in the qualy, but we did a mistake in the box with the rear tyre and I don't have any grip.
“So I don't try in the second time, if not I think I could start in the second row. That, for me, is my potential.
“So we see tomorrow, we have to try to improve in some areas because I'm not very happy about the setting. We have to try to do better.”
Vinales didn't expect to have traction at Motegi
Rossi's factory Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales expressed his surprise at how his M1 performed under acceleration, having struggled all year with traction.
Admitting he expected “much more” than seventh in qualifying, Vinales has taken the positives from Saturday, while highlighting braking as the key issue to improve ahead of the race.
“It's still positive. I was expecting much more, honestly, being on the first row today,” he said.
“But anyway I know the place where we have to improve and that is a point we really have to focus.
“I'm happy actually about the traction, because I didn't expect to have that traction here. So this is positive, because we were struggling for traction at other tracks.
“But we have to improve the braking point, so we have to focus there and try tomorrow to make another step."
