Rossi: Spies will take time
Valentino Rossi believes that World Superbike champion Ben Spies has all the skills necessary to become a frontrunner in MotoGP in the future, but that he needs time to adapt to the machinery first
Spies, who is making a wildcard entry this weekend on a factory Yamaha ahead of a a full-time switch to MotoGP with Tech 3 next year, was 15th quickest in practice at Valencia, 2.2 seconds adrift of Casey Stoner's pace-setting time.
Rossi said that the American's transition to MotoGP would be a gradual one, and that a lot would depend on gaining experience of the Bridgestone control tyres.
"For me, it's just a question of time for Ben," said Rossi. "He needs time to understand the bike, all the electronic systems of the MotoGP machine, and especially the Bridgestone limit, because the Bridgestones are very different to normal tyres.
"So he will need testing and lots of kilometres [on the bike] to reach a real level. I think he's strong and fast and will be very good.
"But he needs time and for me, I think it's easier for [Marco] Simoncelli, because a 250 is more like a MotoGP [machine] than a Superbike [is]."
Rossi, who wrapped up his seventh premier class world title in Malaysia last time out, was fourth quickest in the first practice session at Valencia, and took a trip through the gravel.
He was nevertheless happy with his day's work.
"It's a good first practice," said the 30-year-old Italian. "Unfortunately I'm in fourth position, but I'm quite happy about the settings.
"I tried the harder one at the end and the performance with it is not bad. It is a good start. We have to work to improve, but we are already quite competitive."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments