Valentino Rossi and the Ducati Marlboro Team will contest this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello without Australian crew chief Jeremy Burgess in the garage.

According to Ducati, Burgess has returned to Australia to be with his wife, who must undergo a series of medical exams and a possible urgent surgical procedure.

The team and the Ducati technicians have extended their best wishes to Burgess and his family, and they look forward to welcoming him back for round nine at Germany’s Sachsenring in three weeks.

“First of all I’d like to wish good luck to Jeremy, who won’t be able to join us this weekend due to very important personal reasons,” Rossi said. “We’ll miss him very much in the garage, but we look forward to seeing him at the Sachsenring.

“In the meantime, we must try to do well at Mugello. We’ve ridden there with the GP12, but because our bike is an 800, it responds a little differently to adjustments, and it’s also in its first phase of development.

“It will be vital to quickly find the right path for the setup, as it’s important that we improve in every session in order to qualify in a good position. The track is one of my favorites, and I’ve always done pretty well there.

“Returning after last year’s accident is no problem for me, because I enjoyed riding there during the recent tests, as I always do. I hope there will be a big crowd and that I’ll be able to do better than we’ve managed until now, because this is a very important race.”

Burgess’s crew chief role will be filled by Max Bartolini, who normally works as team technical manager on the Ducati Marlboro Team.

Fabiano Sterlacchini will fill that role this week, coming over from Loris Capirossi’s Pramac Ducati team since the Italian will miss this weekend’s GP.

The Mugello track is one of Valentino’s favorites, as the Italian has won there no fewer than nine times in the various classes.