Misano MotoGP: Valentino Rossi looking to improve

MotoGP world championship leader Valentino Rossi is confident he can make big improvements with the set-up of his factory Yamaha in Misano, despite finishing the opening day of practice in second place.

The Italian posted a best time of 1.35.224 in his 54 laps on the opening day but he was still 0.418s slower than title rival Casey Stoner.

Rossi was having his biggest issues in the final section of the Misano circuit but he believes he can make big strides tomorrow as he goes in search of a third straight win.

Victory in Sunday’s 28-lap clash will tie Rossi on 68 wins with Italian racing legend Giacomo Agostini and he said: “We made quite a good start today but not as good as we could have hoped, so we still have some work to do in order to close the gap to Casey. 

“At the moment the main problem is T4, where I am quite slow and so we really need to look at the data and work out why. Anyway we’re still second so we’re close, but I hope tomorrow to be closer because it seems that everyone is quite competitive here so we’re going to have to work hard.

“We have some ideas and we will see what we can do. It’s great to be racing in the sunshine so close to my home, on the track which was the first one I ever rode on, and I really hope we can make it a fantastic weekend for all of the fans.”