Rossi looking forward to Jerez

Seven-times world champion Valentino Rossi believes some good came out of his first round MotoGP defeat in Qatar to Casey Stoner.

Rossi and his Fiat-backed Yamaha YZR-M1 was embarrassingly outgunned on the straight by Ducati’s blisteringly quick new GP7 800 in the season’s opening GP.

On the long start/finish straight, Stoner had a massive top speed advantage over Rossi, and the Italian said it was important to see where drastic improvements need to be made, even though Qatar was his fifth successive GP without a victory.

The 28-year-old, who is bidding for a fifth premier class victory in Jerez this weekend, said: “I think the first race was very important because all my engineers understand the situation. We worked very well on our bike for braking and handling but we need more horsepower. The difference to Ducati was massive in the straight. It is important for them to understand to work more in Japan.”

Rossi goes into this weekend’s Spanish GP expecting a titanic scrap with home favourite Dani Pedrosa. The pair recently dominated the final IRTA test, with Rossi just edging out Pedrosa in a thrilling 40-minute battle for the keys to a new BMW car.

Pedrosa made a stunning MotoGP debut in Jerez last year when he finished second, while Rossi had a nightmare when Toni Elias torpedoed him at the first corner.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s clash, Rossi said: “The test was great. It was a great fight with Dani and the level was very high and the lap time was impressive. I’m quite worried about my race simulation because I was not very fast but I started the simulation late in the day and the condition of the track was not perfect.”