Valentino Rossi furiously exposes MAJOR Yamaha issue after disastrous Qatar test
VALENTINO ROSSI says his Yamaha is already “far too behind” his rivals ahead of the 2019 MotoGP season.
Rossi is in Qatar with the rest of the MotoGP riders preparing for the new campaign.
Day two of testing saw the Yamaha lack pace and grip, with Rossi placing 19th overall.
And the Italian - who is chasing a first MotoGP title since 2009 - is not happy.
In a bitter assessment of how his Yamaha is responding on the track, he revealed the main problem with the bike.
I was always too slow and we cannot be happy
"It was very difficult," Rossi said.
"I struggled a bit more, especially with rear grip.
“On the first day we found a basic set-up that was not bad. I tried to improve, trying different settings, but unfortunately it did not work.
“It was difficult, I was always too slow and we cannot be happy.”
Rossi will be back on the track later on Monday for a final testing run.
And he is determined to make up some ground on his rivals.
“On the last day we will try other directions to try to be more competitive,” he said.
Meanwhile, defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez has also revealed some major concerns with his bike.
While Ducati and Yamaha riders are generally impressing in Qatar, Marquez is worried his Honda is lagging behind.
"We had some issues on the set-up, we need to work there to understand because Ducati and Yamaha riders are far from us," said Marquez.
"It is true that in this circuit normally we struggle, it is true that we have two days more in front, but we need to work in a different way to be closer to them.
"Still we need to work, understand many things. We start here with the Sepang set-up and looks like it is not working here.
"We didn't have time to change because it is only three hours in the correct time to test so we did not have time change everything."