Rossi improves pace, tries new engine

Valentino Rossi, Fiat Yamaha Team, MotoGP

The morning after confirming he will be heading for Ducati next season, MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi was back on his Fiat Yamaha for Monday's Brno test.

After struggling to fifth in the race, Rossi and his crew were keen to understand what had happened and, after 50 laps of the Czech Republic circuit, the Italian felt satisfied they had got to the bottom of his front-end problems.

"I'm happier today because we worked hard to understand what happened during yesterday's race and at the end we have a clearer picture," he said.

"We worked a lot on the setting and we found out some things, which we hope will be useful over the rest of the season and help us to have some more good races."

Rossi was fourth fastest at the rain-shortened test, 0.860sec behind team-mate and Brno winner Jorge Lorenzo, but over one second faster than his best race lap.

Although not allowed to try Yamaha's 2011 bike, Rossi did get to test an engine upgrade for later in this season.

"I tried a new engine for the 2010 bike and it's not so different but there are some small things about it which I think can help; I hope we can use it soon," he said.

However, Rossi didn't get the chance to try the new Ohlins suspension made available at the test.

It seems that the new suspension is for 2011 - even Honda stated it is "scheduled to be introduced from next year" - and for that reason Yamaha didn't offer it to Rossi, but the Italian is reported to have initially been 'upset' as he believed it could be used in the remaining rounds of this season.

Expect fireworks if the new Ohlins does appear on the grid before the end of the season...


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