Valentino Rossi brushes off first Ducati crash

Valentino Rossi brushed off his first crash on board a factory Ducati machine in Qatar as the Italian finished eighth quickest on the opening night of testing under the Losail International Circuit floodlights.

Rossi had only completed 17-laps when he lost control of his Ducati GP11 machine, running off at Turn 8 for a slow speed tumble into the gravel.

Despite the early setback, Rossi declared himself satisfied with progress made on a track where Ducati has an envious record.

Casey Stoner reigned supreme for Ducati in Doha in 2007, ’08 and ’09 and crashed out of the lead in last year’s race.

Rossi was the fastest Ducati but a best lap of 1.57.038 left him trailing Dani Pedrosa by 0.767s as the nine-times world champion completed 57-laps.

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Rossi told MCN: “At turn eight, when I braked on the left, I arrived too fast and I made a mistake. I lost the front and fortunately I didn’t crash on the asphalt. I tried to control the bike on the gravel and crashed, so it was no problem.

“My first crash with Ducati I make properly.”

Rossi confirmed to MCN that he began the test using the same set-up that Stoner ran during last year’s race and he added: “This bike is a bit difficult and very different to ride compared to the past.

“But we are improving and we are getting closer to the setting we need. I tried Casey’s setting and it was already a good place to start. I adjusted the bike to my riding style but we need to improve because in some areas I am not fantastic like in acceleration on the rear.

“I enjoyed riding the bike but now we have to work to be faster. I have quite a good feeling with the bike. The position is not fantastic and the distance compared to the top guys is still quite big. But 0.7s is better than compared to Sepang.

“Honda continues to make the difference here but in this track the Ducati is better for me to ride. I have a good pace and I made a lot of good laps and made my best lap with 24 laps on the rear tyre.

“This is positive but we still have to work and we are not fast enough because we need 0.5s to try and make a good race.”