Rossi: Yamaha needs more time to deliver upgrades

Valentino Rossi has revealed his factory Yamaha squad will deliver a ‘small step’ but needs more time to produce its highly-sought electronics upgrades.

Rossi and team-mate Maverick Vinales had been lined up to test key electronic package updates at the post-Czech Republic MotoGP round, with the one-day test held the Monday after the race weekend, but it seems the major improvements the Italian rider had been hoping for have been delayed.

The Movistar Yamaha rider complained at the last round before the summer break at Sachsenring that he’s been suffering with the same electronics issue for 12 months without any big breakthroughs in that period.

Rossi has pinpointed to problem down to struggles under acceleration. With all MotoGP riders using the same ECU system, one theory is that the problem relates to the calibration of the electronics. Others suspect the IMU, which will be the same for all from 2019.

Yamaha has not secured a victory in over a year to coincide with Rossi’s electronics concerns which will remain for this weekend with the team not trialing any updates until the post-race test at Brno.

“We have something but not a lot. They are still working very hard at Yamaha but maybe we need a bit more time,” Rossi said. “We have something for Monday but we have to concentrate on the weekend.

“We have made some small steps in this period I think but they need time. They need time to have something bigger, so they need more time. We speak about different areas but mainly it is electronics.”

For the time being Rossi accepts he must concentrate on the Brno race weekend but is hopeful of a strong round having favoured the Czech Republic circuit in his career. Brno hosted his maiden world championship race win, his first victory in the 125cc class back in 1996, while he is a five-time race winner in the premier class.

“Last year it was a good weekend apart from the final result,” he said. “I was quite strong in the qualifying and also in the race I was good but with the flag-to-flag I stopped one lap later and I lost the podium.

“I can fight. This track is fantastic and has great memories in my career which I always like. I’m curious to understand tomorrow if I am already quite fast here.”

Rossi currently sits second in the MotoGP riders’ championship with a 46-point deficit to defending champion Marc Marquez.