Valentino Rossi confident for Silverstone MotoGP

Valentino Rossi is confident Ducati’s factory GP11 will be a competitive package at next month’s British MotoGP race after the Italian made his debut at the Silverstone track yesterday (Tuesday).

Rossi missed last year’s Silverstone clash while he was recovering from the badly broken right leg he suffered after a vicious high-side during practice for his home race in Mugello.

But he got his first chance to gauge the long, technical and fast Northamptonshire circuit with a specially arranged two-hour session after the impressive new Silverstone Wing pits and paddock complex was unveiled.

Rossi completed most of his laps on a bog standard 1198 delivered by Ducati UK staff after an 1198 SP he was testing was struck by the curse of the mystery of the electrical fault just four laps into the test.

Rossi had to be ferried back to the pits in the back of a white transit van but after completing a series of laps of the Silverstone circuit, he reckons the GP11 should be challenging close to the front at the British MotoGP on June 12.

Current factory Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden came close to claiming a rostrum last year at Silverstone, only to lose out to fellow American Ben Spies on the final lap.

And Rossi, who scored his first Ducati podium last weekend in Le Mans, told MCN: “For me it will be tricky because you have a lot of changes of direction at high speed and this is where we suffer a bit. But for the rest I think the Desmosedici will be suitable for this track. Last year the result of the Ducati was not fantastic but Casey was fast and also Nicky at the end arrived fourth and close to the podium. So for me it can be a good track for our bike.”

Rossi was impressed with how technical and fast the Silverstone track is and he got chance to sample it from a different perspective late in the day when he was passenger in a Porsche GT2 RS driven by Red Bull F1 star and bike fan Mark Webber.

Rossi added: “It’s a very good track and a very hard track. I think it will be very technical because a lot of parts are so fast so the lines will be very important, but at the same time also two or three parts are very tight where it is difficult to find good grip on acceleration you have to stay on the edge of the tyre a lot for in the long corners when the speed is very fast. I like I and it’s very good.”