Ducati’s Valentino Rossi is aware that this weekend’s Indianapolis round of the MotoGP World Championship could present one of the toughest rounds yet in his 2011 campaign.

The Italian won his Indianapolis debut in 2008, and although the track isn’t among his absolute favorites, he and his team would like to confirm their recent progress with the Desmosedici’s setup.

“Indy is a difficult circuit, and although it’s not exactly one of my favorites, we’ll see how we perform there with the Ducati,” Rossi said. “They resurfaced part of the track, so the conditions should certainly be better from that point of view.

“We made a little progress with the GP11.1’s setup during the Brno GP, and we’ll see if we can confirm them at this next race. Anyway, racing in America is always nice for me, as I enjoy both the atmosphere and the fans, who are always very passionate.

“On the other hand, I’m very sorry that we’ll be missing someone who undoubtedly followed our sport, though not at the track – Claudio Castiglioni was very passionate and he did a lot for the motorcycle world, and for me in particular when he helped me get started in racing in Sport Production 125 when I was 14.”

Rossi is particularly fond of racing in the United States, and like teammate Nicky Hayden, he has many fans there that will join the many American Ducatisti that make the annual trip to “Ducati Island”.