Brno MotoGP: Valentino Rossi buoyed by Ducati progress

Valentino Rossi and Ducati are quietly confident that new front-end changes to the Italian’s factory GP11.1 will bring him closer to mounting a consistent challenge for podium finishes in the final part of this year’s MotoGP world championship.

The modifications improved Rossi’s confidence in the braking zone and corner entry and while he still only finished sixth, the margin to the winner was much less than in previous races.

Rossi was only 12.6s adrift of dominant winner Casey Stoner but that was a major improvement on his sixth position last month in Laguna Seca when he was more than 30 seconds behind the Australian.

The seven-times MotoGP world champion said: “I am quite happy with the result because we made a step. We made a step forward from Saturday morning on the wet and in dry and also for the race pace. I’m happy because Ducati is very clever and made some small modifications with the stuff we have and it improved a lot my feeling with the front, so now braking and entry and to use the front tyre, it looks like the situation is better.

“I started with the target to fight with the guys in front of me but unfortunately I made a bad start and we made a mistake in the warming up procedure for the tyres. I was in trouble in the first two laps and I don’t have enough grip and I lose more than two seconds in the first three laps. After I made a race that was possible to arrive on or very close to the podium.

“We have to work to improve because all the Yamahas and Hondas are very strong and it looks now we are closer and this is a more normal sixth place. Compared to Laguna the distance to the top is much less and I gave up on the last two laps. If not I could stay within 10 seconds instead of the 30 like always when we use this bike (GP11.1). Also if you take out Stoner I was not so far from the podium, so we know we have to work but we have a step.”

For more from Rossi and crew chief Jerry Burgess, plus an exclusive look at the front-end changes to the Ducati GP11.1 in Brno, see the August 17 issue of MCN.