---
title: "Rossi fights back from poor qualifying to take second"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/10/23/rossi-fights-back-poor-qualifying-take-second/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2016-10-23T13:50:56Z"
modified: "2016-10-23T13:51:16Z"
---

# Rossi fights back from poor qualifying to take second

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi recovered from a woeful qualifying to finish second in today’s 27-lap Australian Grand Prix, making amends for his Japan blunder last weekend.

Rossi suffered his worst qualifying result since the 2011 German Grand Prix when he was with Ducati, the Italian managing a lowly 15th in the tricky conditions of QP1 yesterday afternoon. This morning’s warm up session, run in dry conditions, revealed that the Yamaha rider actually had a strong pace, Rossi finishing the 30 minutes second fastest.

Starting from 15th, fighting for the podium was going to be a tough task, but Rossi got his head down and quickly rose up through the field. By the start of the second lap he was up to 12th, moving into 10th a lap later and fifth by the end of the seventh lap. By this point, Rossi was the fastest man on track having just posted a 1m29.795 to match the pace being set by race leader Marc Marquez.

By lap 10 Rossi was already running in second and only 1.8 seconds away from Cal Crutchlow, the Briton inheriting the lead from Marquez who crashed out at Turn 4. Rossi said that, at this point of the race, he felt that the victory was possible and set about trying to chase down the LCR Honda.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2016/10/617328122.jpg)

But Crutchlow’s pace proved too strong for the Italian, Rossi conceding that the British rider was able to ‘interpret this track in the maximum way.’ Nonetheless, Rossi is still happy with the result as it makes up for the disappointment of last weekend at Motegi. This result also sees the nine-time World Champion move 24 points clear of teammate Jorge Lorenzo in their fight for second in the championship, meaning Rossi could conceivably secure runner-up spot next time out in Sepang.

“This morning we discovered that we had a good pace in good conditions and step by step I came back. At the beginning of the race, the first lap was very funny and I tried and hoped to go to Cal, but he was too fast and too strong,” the Yamaha rider explained.

“The first ten laps I enjoyed a lot. Cal was also my target and I thought that I could beat him because this morning I was a bit stronger. When I saw Marquez crash I thought I might be able to win and tried but unfortunately Cal was too fast. He is always very fast in Phillip Island and interprets this track in the maximum way. For me the second half of the race was more difficult and I couldn‘t make a move, but this race is what we needed after the mistake in Motegi and the bad day we had yesterday, which I think was the most frustrating day of the season.

“ It was a very positive day for the team and Yamaha and it‘s been a positive race. Congratulations to Cal and thank you to all my team, to all the guys who did a great job.”