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Rossi hopes to end winless streak at Jerez

Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi is looking forward to one of his most favourite tracks on the calendar. The Grand Prix at Jerez is always one he is looking forward to the most. This year the Italian hopes he can end his winless streak as he was unable to win a race since Estoril last season.

Rossi's love affair with the Spanish fans stretches back to 1996, when he took the first of his six victories in all classes at Jerez. Five of those have come in the premier-class, including with Yamaha in 2005 and 2007, but with the 29-year-old now without a win since Estoril last year, he must win if he is to avoid his longest winless streak since his debut MotoGP victory at Donington Park in 2000.

"Obviously Qatar didn't turn out quite as we hoped but we took away a lot of positives from the weekend," said Rossi. "We saw how competitive both our bike and the Bridgestone tyres are, and this is very exciting for the season ahead. We did some excellent work at the Jerez test in February and I was able to have great fun riding the bike, so now I'm really looking forward to going to race there."

Rossi furthermore said: "It's a great track to ride on, it's quite technical and it usually seems to suit our bike quite well. We know we have a big job facing us, especially after the result of Qatar, so we will be aiming to make the most of the few hours of practice time that we have available to us to refine our package. Jerez is a great track for me and I have had some wonderful races there in the past, including a brilliant win last year, and I always enjoy racing there a lot.

"It will be nice to return to a 'normal' racing schedule, even if I enjoyed the night racing in Qatar, and I have always felt very at home racing in Spain. Most importantly, there's always a fantastic atmosphere in Jerez with the fans coming from all over Spain; it's like one big crazy party!"

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