Brno MotoGP: Valentino Rossi eager for Monday test

Valentino Rossi says he’s eager to see what development parts Ducati will roll out for the Italian star to evaluate during a one-day test session at the Brno circuit on Monday.

Rossi is awaiting the delivery of some new electronics with Ducati technical boss Filippo Preziosi due to fly into the Czech Republic on Sunday.

Rossi plans to test updates on the GP11.1 Desmosedici he’s been riding since the Assen round in late June. And he could do a back-to-back comparison on the older GP11 version, which is still being run by factory Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden.

Rossi, who finished seventh fastest at the end of the opening day of practice in Brno, said: “I talked with Filippo during the break and I tried to explain in the best way the problems that we have and the area to improve the bike but I don’t have any answers now, also because Filippo will arrive on Sunday. I don’t know what Ducati has to improve the bike. I just explain my feeling and I know that they work hard and I think that Filippo arrives with some answers and we have some new stuff to try and Monday with electronics and some other things. We need more time to improve and work so we have to wait.

“The electronics are to improve the bike in acceleration but for the rest I don’t know. We’ll do a comparison between the old and the new and we have some different stuff in the fork and small parts to improve the feeling. We have electronics to improve the bike in acceleration but for the rest I don’t know. We’ll do a comparison between the old and the new bike and we have some different stuff in the front fork and small parts to improve the feeling. It is a very important test, so I am looking forward to it.”

Rossi was surprisingly upbeat in the Czech Republic tonight despite finishing 1.417s adrift of Dani Pedrosa’s best pace.

For long periods today, the nine-times world champion was over two seconds off the pace but he ended with a best time of 1.57.745 and the 32-year-old said: “I’m quite happy. It is nothing incredible but at the end we improved our lap time and my position quite a lot at the end. We lose time with the hard tyre at the beginning of the session. We think it is a good choice for the race but it slides too much, especially on the left. I’m only seventh but I’m not so far from the two or three guys in front.”