Valentino Rossi “Top five would be a very good result”

The World Champion outlined his aim for the eni Motorrad Grand Prix after qualifying on the second row for Sunday’s race.

Valentino Rossi will start his first race back after injury from fifth place on the grid at Sachsenring after an impressive qualifying session from the 31 year-old Fiat Yamaha rider on Saturday.

The Italian used the morning practice session to ease himself back into riding after Friday’s efforts, and also completed some set-up work on his factory M1 before putting in a sterling effort in afternoon qualifying to finish 0.578s off team-mate Jorge Lorenzo’s pole effort.

"I am really happy after this second day because I feel confident on the bike,” he stated. “I have suffered more today because we've had two sessions instead of one and I have some pain and I'm more tired than yesterday, but I feel good and my movement is okay. Also the shoulder feels fine so it's definitely a positive return for me.”

Of the set-up tweaks attempted Rossi noted: “Unfortunately today at the end we tried a small modification to improve the setting but it made it worse, so I think we lost one position for this. I don't think the front row was possible because Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa went under 1'22” and I don't think I could have done that today.”

Sunday’s race will provide another test for Rossi’s fitness and he effectively ruled out a potential podium finish after a promising weekend to date. “For tomorrow of course there is a question mark but I hope to be able to finish; I think the podium will be difficult for me but top five would be a very good result,” he concluded.

Source: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/