Rossi calls on Yamaha to improve late-race pace

The seven-time premier class champion rebounded from a disastrous qualifying – in which he was only 15th-fastest in mixed conditions – to finish second to Cal Crutchlow in Australia.

Having made his way to second behind the British rider in the early stages, Rossi was then powerless to reel in Crutchlow, who went on to seal his second career win by a margin of four seconds.

Rossi said that pace on used rubber has become a major weakness of Yamaha in comparison to Honda, which has won seven of the last nine races.

“In the second part of the race, Crutchlow – who of course rode very well and is strong here at Phillip Island – really got away from me,” said Rossi. “He was faster, there was nothing I could do. 

“I have had a few difficulties in the second part of the race and I think that, apart from trying to get a stronger engine, we must work on this point.

“It’s happened to me a lot of times – Misano, Silvertone, Aragon. The problem is that the Honda seems faster in this part of the race. 

“We must try to improve the bike because, also on cold tyres, we are very fast, but then we suffer a bit, especially compared to Honda.”

Rossi added that even Suzuki now appears to have better pace at the end of the race – with his future teammate Maverick Vinales finishing third, just over a second behind the flag.

He continued: “That [lack of late pace] seemed to be the case compared to Suzuki, because at the end Vinales was faster. 

“I was lucky, at the start, to pass better and put some distance between him and me. This is how I finally was able to come second.”