Rossi ready for Brno after summer break
Added on Thursday, August 11th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Rossi ready for Brno after summer break
Valentino Rossi will be hoping for more happy memories at Brno this weekend as he looks to improve the Ducati’s competitiveness after the summer break.
Rossi, who has struggled to make an impression on the Ducati this season, is looking forward to an extended weekend at Brno after enjoying some very happy memories in the Czech Republic.
Rossi secured his first ever pole position and his first race win at Brno as a 125 rider back in 1996 and has gone on to record seven wins in all classes in the Czech Republic, giving him plenty to be excited about as the championship enters the second half of the season.
“After Laguna I took a few days of vacation, at the beach close to home. It was a short break but enough to recharge the batteries following an intense period,” he said. “Now we’ll spend a nice mid-August at Brno-classic!
“Seriously, I’m always happy to go there. I like the track not only because it’s very nice, wide and fast, and I’ve always gone well there, but also because it’s a special place for me since it’s where I earned my first pole, my first win and my first world championship.
“During both the race weekend and the Monday test, we’ll continue concentrating on the bike’s setup, with the goal of reducing the gap to the lead group.”
Rossi will also have some new electronics to test in Monday’s post-race test, with Ducati team manager Vittoriano Guareschi claiming that work has been taking place throughout the summer break to try and make the Desmosedici more competitive.
“After Laguna Seca the team had the chance to rest for a few days, even though the work at Ducati never stopped,” he said. “The Test Team tried some electronics updates at Mugello, and we’ll use them in the post-race test at Brno to continue improving the setup and reduce the gap to the lead group. Filippo [Preziosi] will be on hand Monday, and we’ll continue the development work on the GP11.1 with both Valentino and Nicky [Hayden].”
