Rossi: "It's Time to Win!"

Valentino Rossi admitted it is now time to upper his game and become a race winner in the 2009. After making two podium appearances in the first two races of the season – Qatar and Japan – Rossi believes Spain would be a perfect opportunity for him to finally score his first win this year.

The reigning MotoGP champion was favorite for the Motegi win last weekend, but only managed to score a runner-up spot, behind teammate Jorge Lorenzo. While the Japanese win boosted his teammate's morale ahead of his home race this weekend, it also fueled Rossi's determination to climb the first step of the podium as soon as possible.

Although admitting constantly good results is the way to staying strong in the overall classification, Rossi insisted his eyes are only set for 1st place at Jerez.

“We've made a good start to the season with two podiums which shows we are consistent, but now we need to make the step up. Motegi was a good race but we had one or two problems, which we need to fix,” said Rossi, ahead of the Spanish weekend.

“We have a lot of data from Jerez because we tested there twice in the winter so I hope that this will help us to find a good setting straight away. As a rule we are very strong at the track and it is always great fun riding there,” added Rossi.

While contesting in the Queen Class, Rossi won 4 times in the last 7 years at Jerez. Last year, the Yamaha rider posted a 2nd place finish, behind crown favorite Dani Pedrosa.