2011 French Grand Prix
After struggling with setup Friday on the Ducati Team GP11, Valentino Rossi posted the ninth fastest overall time out of both MotoGP first two of three Free Practice sessions in Le Mans.
The Ducati team worked throughout the Friday sessions to help the Italian Rossi achieve optimal setup, but by the time the MotoGP prototype felt comfortable, the sessions had ended.
Ducati reports that the team will continue experimenting with setup during FP3 so Valentino Rossi can be quicker Saturday in qualifying for this weekend’s Le Mans MotoGP event.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro MotoGP – 9th, 1:34.966) says: “For sure I hoped today would go better than that. We had a few problems trying to find the right setting, so we’re too far back today. We’re struggling somewhat on corner exits.
“The bike moves a lot under acceleration, and we’re trying to understand if it’s a question of setup, or one of electronics, because at the moment, I’m having a hard time riding. In the end, we found an interesting change for the rear, but there were just a few minutes left in the session.
“I only had time for a couple of laps, during which I more or less matched my best time. Maybe with a little more time, I could have dropped another tenth and made up some positions, but tomorrow we definitely have to do much better when we try that setup with more time.”
For a Le Mans FP1 Practice report, click here. For the FP2, click here.
