Rossi: 'We found some positive things'

But Ducati rider unable to unleash the GP12's full potential

VALENTINO Rossi was the slowest Ducati rider at yesterday's Aragon test but despite this, he says it was a good test.

Rossi was eighth fastest with a time of 1m 50.369s, two places behind team mate Nicky Hayden in sixth and 0.17 seconds off the leading Ducati, Hector Barbera who clocked a 1m 50.196s, fifth fastest. Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo was quickest, with a 1m 49.187s

"I had a small problem at the end of the session" said Rossi. “It went pretty well because it was important to do some riding at this track, where I didn’t know all the ‘secrets.’ I’m just sorry to have had a small problem at the end of the session. Maybe a cable in the ECU broke, so I was stuck in the garage for fifteen minutes, which prevented me from using the second soft tyre that I had available. Otherwise, I think I could have been a little bit better. We didn’t have enough time to try the aluminium swingarm again, but since we found some positive things, we can say that it was a good test.”

Rossi is clearly trying: he completed 78 laps during the test, where the other riders averaged 57 laps.