Rossi: We are quite worried

Valentino Rossi couldn't hide his dissatisfaction at concluding the second Sepang MotoGP test in eleventh place, almost two-seconds from the top.

After feeling 'quite confident' following Tuesday's opening day, when he was ninth (on hard tyres) and one-second from the front, Rossi was then forced to miss the whole second day due to fever.

The seven time MotoGP world champion returned today eager to try and make up for lost time - and rode for 59 laps in the very tiring Malaysian heat. But there was to be small reward.

Rossi struggled with cornering and lost a further 0.8sec relative to fastest man Casey Stoner. There are now just two more days of difficult, at Qatar, before his first race as a Ducati rider.

“The first day was not so bad, because I was previously on the lap time of the first test [earlier this month] and we were one-second from the top,” said Rossi.

“We were quite certain for day two because we had a lot of things to try, like a dissimilar setting for the rear, some swingarm link, different suspension.

“I was quite hopeful to improve our lap time, then unluckily yesterday I could not ride so we lost one day and that made things more difficult.

“Anyway today I felt okay. I made nearly 60 laps and worked a lot on the bike, but unluckily we didn't fix our problem.

“We are not fast enough in the corners. We have a problem for rotating the bike, so I always have to slow down too much to make the first-class line. I cannot ride the Desmosedici in the right way.

Rossi satisfied with Qatar improvement and shoulder

The Ducati Team rider was pleased with day one at the MotoGP Test in Qatar, despite a minor fall on his GP11. Team-mate Nicky Hayden was also in a optimistic mood after Sunday's session.

With the opening round of the MotoGP World Championship just around the corner, the Ducati MotoGP Team made steady development during the first half of a two-night pre-season Test at Qatar’s Losail International Circuit, where temperatures were around 23°C and track circumstances decent. Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden both completed the evening firmly inside the top ten, and they look onward to taking further steps on Monday.

Valentino Rossi, 8th, 1'57.038:

“It wasn’t terrible for a first day. I was able to ride the bike better, and I enjoyed myself. Although I was just eighth, my times aren’t too far from the top: seven tenths is still a big difference, but anyway it’s progress, bearing in mind that I did my best time with a very used tyre. We worked well on the settings, even if in a couple parts of the circuit I’m still not fast sufficient, and we’ll have to try some more solutions tomorrow. As for the shoulder, I’m happy because I have a little more strength, and that enables me to ride better. Today I also had my first crash on a Ducati, which I naturally did deliberately because after a while, you have to do a little fall… All joking aside, I entered too quickly and lost the front: I was able to pick it up and avoid deafening while I was on the track, but I dropped it in the gravel – no big deal though.”

Nicky Hayden, 9th, 1'57.137:

“Right out of the gate, it wasn’t too bad, and then we were up against a wall for a while. The team made one little change with ride height and I was able to get a polite lap time and get reliable. In parts of the track I felt pretty good, but there are spots where the navigation still needs to improve. If we can do better in those areas, we should be able to drop the lap time. I feel a little bit closer than Malaysia, but we certainly need to go earlier tomorrow.”