MotoGP, Valentino: morale remains high

Phillip Island has been Valentino's domain in the past... The Doctor won at the Australian track on five consecutive occasions, from 2001 to 2005. This year, Rossi and the Yamaha are navigating much choppier waters, though are hopeful that the location may help.

The first objective is to put the Motegi GP, which finished with a crash, behind them.

“I feel fairly good, only a little pain” assures Valentino.

Now he needs to focus on Phillip Island and hope that the M1 doesn't disappoint around those turns. He'll have one eye on the race and another on collating precious data for the 2018 bike.

“I come to Australia after a complicated race, but morale is still high because I want to work in the best possible way with my team to solve the problems we had in Japan as soon as possible, to get back to completing good races - promises Rossi - Phillip Island is a track I really like and I hope that the weather allows us to work in the dry right away”.