Italian veteran Valentino Rossi struggling with Ducati Desmosedici in the 2011 MotoGP season
Ducati Team rider Valentino Rossi made a shocking move for the 2011 MotoGP season. The nine-time world champion decided to leave the Yamaha factory team and move to Ducati under a two-year contract until the end of 2012.
The 2011 season for Rossi did not come out much promising from the start. The combination of the Italian rider and manufacturer was anticipated to charm the MotoGP world, but it did not prove out to be the case.
During the Valencia test Rossi officially made his first appearance on the Ducati bike. The Italian was not able to show pace at Spain as he was placed 10th and 15th in the two day
test session respectively.
After having a surgery to his shoulder he went to participate in pre-season tests, the first of which was held at Sepang International Circuit. During the first test, Rossi was still lagging far behind the top fast riders. On the first day he was 12th, while
he was 13th on the second day and finally 10th on the last day of the session. The overall performance was a disappointment for the Ducati Team and Valentino Rossi.
The second official pre-season test was also held at same venue, Sepang. During second visit to Malaysia for the test session, Rossi was not feeling well. After the first day, he was placed ninth on the time chart, while he missed the second day due to illness.
On his return for third day of the session he made a run to rank at 11th for the day. The second pre-season test was also not fruitful for the Italian.
Approaching Qatar for the final test session and season inaugural round, Rossi made his attempt and placed himself at eighth position and on second day he was 13th to end the session.
Shortly the 2011 season’s first round took place at Losail circuit, Qatar. The consistent health problem led him into the first round. Previously in test sessions he was feeling pain in his shoulder and lack of strength in his upper body.
However, he raced with Ducati at Qatar and qualified ninth on the grid and crossed the finish line in seventh position. Though he was still feeling lack of strength but he managed to improve a little.
Heading towards the second round at Jerez, Spain he was feeling more confident. As he qualified 12th for the race day but the rain-affected race was a little help for Rossi and he moved up into top riders. While fighting
for second position in the race he tangled up with Casey Stoner and ended up in a crash, sweeping Stoner with him. The accident took immediate heat with Stoner’s retirement from race and Rossi ending up fifth.
Leaving the crashing scene behind the MotoGP action headed to Estoril, Portugal. At the Portuguese GP he came ninth on the grid and fought through a dry race day to manage a fifth place across the finish line.
The French GP was the round that blessed him with his season’s first podium finish for his Ducati team and himself. His third place finish was possible after two riders crashed, Marco Simoncelli and Dani Pedrosa.
At Catalunya, he was able to score best grid place of the season to that date. However, he was able to finish fifth for the third time in the season.
The Silverstone event was also held under rain and Rossi had to struggle to keep up with the front riders. After starting from 13th place he managed to finish sixth in the British GP.
Arriving at the Dutch TT Assen event, Rossi was aboard a new breed of Ducati Desmosedici GP11, called GP11.1. The new version was said to be grippier than earlier one, due to its chassis which was inspired from the 2012 model. The Dutch GP was also one of
his decent finishes of the season as he came fourth and missed the podium by three seconds.
The Mugello event was carried out in high disappointment as the GP11.1 was not able to set up the mark. While struggling for pace and grip came sixth from 12th position on the grid.
Sachsenring was a further worst case scenario as he dropped to 16th position on the grid, finishing ninth. Last event of the first half of the season was Laguna Seca which seemed to be fruitful but it too ended up in
an unpleasant way. Rossi finished sixth after four riders crashed from seventh place on the grid.
Let’s see how he fares in the remainder of the season.
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