Rossi Pumped Up by Good Pace in Qatar

Valentino Rossi ended the first day of action on Qatar's Losail International circuit on Thursday night in 5th place, only 7 tenths of a second off the pace of the leading Honda, ridden by Casey Stoner. And while that doesn't sound like the Rossi we used to know from a couple of years back, that performance is a clear indication of the fact that Ducati are on the right track in their preparation for the season opening race.

The Doctor finished the winter testing outside the Top 10, so his 5th place in the first practice session of the season opening round should give him a boost ahead of this weekend's running.

“We modified the set-up a little compared to the test, and we immediately found it to be better, to the point that within just a few laps, I improved on my time from Monday,” he said after the practice session. “The last run was particularly positive and my final lap time, done with a hard tire that had 19 laps on it, was my best, a bit more than a tenth off second place.”

Before he concluded testing this week, Rossi experienced some more pain in his shoulder, which got him worried for this weekend's race. After the P1 however, the Italian sounded optimistic when referring to his shoulder problems, saying that he's happy with how it behaved during the 45 minutes of action.

“The shoulder is holding up well,” said Rossi. “It was only at the end that it started to lose a little strength, and tomorrow we'll see how it reacts with two practice sessions. In any case, we're happy today.”

Two more practice sessions are scheduled for Friday night, before the qualifying running on Saturday and the race on Sunday.