Ducati unlikely to show true potential until mid-season

Valentino Rossi’s crew chief Jerry Burgess believes it is unrealistic to expect the Italian legend to be consistently challenging for MotoGP race wins until the second half of the season.

A chronic understeer issue has slowed Rossi’s bid to make an instant impact on the new factory GP11 machine and after a tough winter testing schedule, the 32-year-old was only seventh on his Ducati debut in Qatar last month.

And in a rain-hit Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez earlier this month, Rossi was involved in controversy when he crashed out while fighting for victory.

The incident also took out Aussie rival Casey Stoner but it is in the dry conditions that Rossi is adamant the Ducati is still not competitive to win.

The nine-times world champion will test a raft of new parts on Monday in Estoril including a new chassis and heavily revamped Desmosedici motor in a bid to cure the understeer issue and get the Ducati closer to challenging Honda and Yamaha.

But even if the changes are introduced for the French GP in Le Mans next month, Aussie Burgess reckons it will take time to turn the GP11 into a winning package.
He told MCN: “Being realistic I don’t think you’ll see the best of us in the first part of the season.”

“We know Valentino is going to improve in his fitness but we’ll just have to measure ourselves against the guys going the best and if that continues to be the Honda then so be it. Our target will be Yamaha and then we’ll be looking at the Honda.”