"The race will be 42 minutes and today in 42 minutes the weatherꦑ changed from wet, to dry, to wet again!"

Those were the words of Valentino🐼 Rossi as he described the challenge of trying to adapt to the "incredible" weather conditions at Le Mans on Saturday.

"When it's like this it's very scary, especially because maybe the first p🦋art of the track is dry but then you arrive very fast at a wet part," he said.

"It's very dangerous, very scary, you have to be lucky to slow 💫down in time. And also although the track dries very fast, some wet patches remain, so it's not easy to understand.

"But🤡 fortunately we are able to find a window to make the Qualifyin꧑g 2 practice in the dry."

Rossi and Petronas Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli were the only riders to corrꦜectly start the Q2 session on slicks, others init🎐ially fitting wets before immediately pitting.

"In the Petronas team we made the right choice, right strategy, because my coach Idalio Gavira gave to u♓s the right way and we started with slicks and it was a small advantage for us," Rossi said.

But the potential advantage of extr🐠a laps was nega🐓ted when Rossi suffered a big scare at the final corner.

"Unfortunately, on the second lap I went 🙈a bit wide at the last corner and touched a wet patch, it'ꦑs a question of maybe 5cm. I lost the rear and it was a big moment.

"I꧂ was able to recover but I lost some feeling in sector 4. It was a shame because at that moment I was strong, I had red helmets and I was fast. Then also on my last lap I was a bit too conservative.

"But at the end I was able to make a decent lap and I will start ninth tomorrow. 🃏That's a lot better than in the recent races and also my pace is better, especially in the d𒐪ry.

"Yesterday I was f🍰ast in the wet, the position was not fantastic because I didn't put a new tyre at the end but my pace was not so bad. Today we had more problems and we don’t understand very well w𒐪hy.

"It looks like🎃 🐻the Yamaha has been struggling more in the wet and that the other bikes are able to accelerate faster out of the corners.

"The problem is that also tomorrow the weather forecast ꦜis like today, so iಞt will be very difficult and we will see."

While Rossi saved his sc﷽are at the final corner there have been no less than 77 falls, across all three grand prix classes, at Le Mans so far this weekend, in♔cluding 19 in MotoGP.

"Usually when we speak with Michelin, to be safe we neeౠd 20 degrees on the asphalt. So it's means 15-16 air, maybe 14. So all this weekend is too dangerous!" said Rossi.

Michelin agreed with Rossi that track temperatures have all been under 20 degrees so far this weeke🐻nd, ranging from 12 to 1𓂃8 degrees on Friday and 14 to 18 degrees on Saturday.

Meanwhile the official ground temperatures in the MotoGP sessions so far, presumably taken in a diﷺfferent place, are listed as; 9 degrees (FP1), 14 degrees (FP2), 7 degrees (FP3)🍒, 21 degrees (FP4), 22 degrees (Q1) and 21 degrees (Q2).

Either way, at least half of the sessions look to have been below the minimum Michelin track temperature threshold stated by Rossi, w⛄hich also explains why Sunday's warm-up sessions have been delayed by 30-minutes.

Aprilia's A♌leix Espargaro was adamant that su🔯ch a situation cannot continue.

"We can’t come to Le Mans with 12🍌 degrees on the tarmac, because the tyres that Michelin and Dunlop are bringing to us are not working. I don’t know if someone sees it as funny that we crash, but to us it is not," he said.

"Everybody is crashing. Are we all idiots? No, we are not. I’m very angry about th🐼is. Today I’ve been fast in the wet. It’s not tha🌠t I don’t want to ride in the wet. I do. It’s part of my job. It’s not a problem. But not in 12 degrees.

"Why don’t we change the r😼ace to a normal situation? If not, push the manufacturers of 💛the tyres to do a special tyre for Le Mans.

"In the MotoGP allocation of front tyres, the 'K' tyre is very soft. I would say it’s the standard tyre that we use everywhere and nobody’s able to use it ꦿthis weekend. Every⛎body’s with the 'P'.

"Normally the 'P' tyre I don’t even⛎ put it on the bike, I use it as a transport tyre. It’s super soft and we are even like this crashing. 𒅌And Michelin have no other option which is softer. We have to think about it."

One suggesti🐼on has been for Le Mans to swa♎p future race dates with Mugello, due to be held at the end of this month.

"I don’t know how much can change in two weeks," said Rossi. "Maybe one month would be better, but this is not a choice for us and Le Mans has to organise also the 24-𝐆Hour car r⛦ace in June."

Rossi's team-mate Franco Mo♌rbidelli qualified in fourth place.