Rossi boosted by Yamaha gains at Mugello

Valentino Rossi says he has positive feelings with his Movistar Yamaha and is confident of being competitive at his home MotoGP race at Mugello as the factory squad chips into its ongoing issues.

At recent races the nine-time world champion has complained with a lack of feeling and too much spinning on his rear tyre under acceleration but after Friday practice at the Italian circuit he’s optimistic about set-up tweaks which are paying off.

Rossi ended the day seventh fastest on the combined timesheet, but says his late quick lap was hampered by traffic from other riders, so is confident of closing the gap on his front-running rivals having seen teammate Maverick Vinales end the FP2 second fastest.

While Rossi has continued his call for electronics improvements from Yamaha, he is content with the progress carried over from Le Mans and into Mugello ahead of his home race.

“It was a good day because I have a good feeling with the bike and I was quite competitive in the morning and in the afternoon it was not so bad,”  Rossi said. “I feel good with the bike and I can ride in a good way.

“It is also true that a lot of different riders and different bikes have a very good pace so we have to work hard, for sure, because I have too much spin in acceleration so it will be important to try to improve.

“It will also be important on the tyre choice because the front and rear on both sides is very, very open so it will be very important to find the right tyre for the bike and for the style. It’ll be key to make the right modifications for tomorrow morning and in FP3 we will try to stay in the top ten.”

Rossi has resisted following the same geometry changes Vinales has forged ahead with as he feels the development path his team is currently following with produce the same desire effect.

“Compared to the test I was not so fast but today we used a different setting [to Vinales], more like Le Mans, and it is a balance of the bike that I like more and in fact I am faster,” he said. “In Barcelona we used more or less this and it was not too bad. Now, track by track we will improve the balance to support the tyres.”