This weekend’s Silverstone round of the MotoGP championship will see Ducati Marlboro facing some extra challenges in comparison to his series rivals.

Rossi was injured at the inaugural Silverstone event in 2010, although he turned about twenty laps there last year aboard an 1198 street bike during the aforementioned inauguration.

On Friday, he’ll face twin assignments: better learn the wide, fast circuit, and work on his bike’s setup.

“Silverstone is a great track that’s difficult and quite fast. I’ll start on Friday with a small handicap because unfortunately, I didn’t get to race there last year. I haven’t ridden a MotoGP bike there, although I did about twenty laps on an 1198 street bike,” Rossi stated.

“I’ll have to learn the track as quickly and as well as possible, as it’s very technical, with several blind spots where taking the right line is very important. Of course we’ll also have to work on adjusting the bike.”

“Anyway, we’re understanding better and better how to approach the setup of the GP11, and Ducati continues working on development. There’s still work to be done, but it’s clear which areas we have to address and we’re all focused and determined to improve.”

Rossi currently sits fifth in the MotoGP championship, three points behind injured Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa.