After Rossi and teammate Jorge Lorenzo crashed out at Motegi, Rossi's second placing at Phillip Island — after starting in 15th — saved some face.
“In Japan I was competitive, but we collected zero points,” Rossi said. “In Australia I was fast in the wet on Friday, but we made a mistake and my lap times were not counted, while Saturday was the most frustrating day of the season."
"I have some weak points, the same is valid for the team and when there are some difficult conditions and we need to take some risky choices, we struggle," he said. "But in the race we redeemed ourselves.”
However, the Italian said the team needed more.
“I started very focused because I didn’t want to make the same mistake as in Motegi. A step at a time I recovered positions," he said. "When I saw Marc crashing out I thought I could win because in the warm up I had a better pace than Crutchlow, but he is very fast on this track and in the second part of the race he was faster.”
Rossi said that tyres were a factor.
