Mugello MotoGP: Valentino Rossi admits Ducati not strong enough

Valentino Rossi has admitted he’s not competitive enough at the moment to be fighting for podium finishes ahead of his factory Ducati debut in Italy this weekend.

Speaking on the eve of his long-awaited Ducati debut on home soil at the spectacular Mugello circuit, Rossi fears his army of fans are unlikely to see him competing for victory on Sunday.

Rossi will make his second appearance on Ducati’s radical new GP11.1 bike, which he rode to fourth place in Assen just five days ago. The new bike is the same chassis and rear suspension package Ducati was developing for the new 1000cc class in 2012, but Rossi was still troubled by a long-running front-end handling issue in Holland last weekend.

Rossi, who broke his right leg in Mugello last season, said: “Compared to Friday in Assen when we had a lot of problems, in the race we improved a lot the feeling with the bike and at the end the result is not so bad. But we were not fast enough in the race.

“We need to work on this bike and understand better a way to improve the performance of the Desmosedici. We are fourth in the championship and the gap is not so big but we are not strong enough to try and fight for the victories and also for the podium. We keep working and we have to be concentrated and try to improve our package as soon as possible.”

The major issue for Rossi in Assen was his inability to generate sufficient heat into the Bridgestone hard compound front tyre option.

Conditions this weekend are expected to be much hotter and Rossi said he was eager to discover whether warmer track temperatures would ease his front tyre problem and make him faster.

The 32-year-old added: “In the last races we had a lot of problems to use the front tyre at low temperatures, but here we have higher temperatures and we hope that the bike is better. Maybe this temperature will help us a bit and put more temperature in the front tyre for better grip, so I hope this weather helps us to go faster.”