MotoGP news

Rossi looking to improve in Germany

The MotoGP paddock returned to action today at the Sachsenring in eastern Germany and Valentino Rossi and his crew were quick to get back to work, with the aim of recouping the points they lost last time out in Assen. The hot and sunny weather today was a welcome respite from the rain that has been following the paddock around Europe, and a full day of dry set-up time left the Fiat Yamaha rider 4th in the combined standings.

Rossi, who currently lies second in the championship, made a good start this morning and finished the first session in third, just 0.299 off Casey Stoner. He was confident of making more improvement this afternoon but a small set-up change failed to reap the expected rewards and he was unable to improve on his time from this morning. He still finished the practice in fourth place but a second's gap to the lead rider means that Rossi and his crew face a hard day's work tomorrow to make up for the time they lost this afternoon. His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile made an improvement of almost half a second this afternoon and finished the day in sixth. 

"For sure I'm not happy after today's practice!" exclaimed Rossi. "This afternoon we tried some modifications to the setting and we decided to try a softer set-up, but things didn't work how we hoped and we couldn't improve our time. In the fast corners I wasn't fast enough, and I was always a little bit wide. This afternoon I couldn't ride how I wanted to. Obviously this afternoon's choice is not the right way for us at this circuit and therefore tomorrow morning we will return to this morning's set-up and try to close the gap to Casey. I didn't try the new electronics today and actually at the moment it's more likely that we won't this weekend, but I did try some different Bridgestone tyres and we found one which we think will be okay for the race. I am confident that our potential is more than today so we will do our best to improve tomorrow."

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