Rossi hoping testing progress pays off at Le Mans
Added on Thursday, May 12th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Rossi hoping testing progress pays off at Le Mans
Valentino Rossi believes that the post-race in Estoril two weeks ago demonstrated that his Ducati team are heading in the right direction.
Rossi took part in an official test following the Portuguese Grand Prix two weeks ago, reporting positively on updates made to the Desmosedici during the session, and the Italian is looking forward to seeing how those updates will come into effect come race day.
The former world champion currently sits fourth in the championship despite some well-documented injury problems and issues with the Ducati since his switch from Yamaha, but Rossi believes that a good qualifying session will stand him in good stead at Le Mans this weekend.
“Le Mans is a historic track, and I always like to go to these places with rich motorsport traditions, even if the stop-and-go layout is a little particular,” he claimed. “The atmosphere is always really nice, with the grandstand filled with fans on both Saturday and Sunday.
“The track isn’t particularly technical but maintaining a good rhythm is tricky: there are many points where we brake really hard for corners, so then it’s important to have strong acceleration on the exit. We’ll see how well we’re able to deal with those characteristics.
“We’re coming off a test that confirmed that we’ve started to go in the right direction and, although we’re still in the first phase, we hope we can find a good setup for Le Mans so that we can be faster in the qualifying session. We’re all working hard, and we’re making progress, but we still have to keep improving.”
