Valentino Rossi says he will use the setup breakthroughs found during the Sunday warm-up session at Assen with the hope of finding similar gains at Sachsenring as he accepts he’s enduring a tough time in his 2019 MotoGP campaign with three consecutive non-finishes.
In a terrible June for the Monster Yamaha rider, starting with crashing out of his home round at Mugello, Rossi was then caught up in the multiple-rider collision triggered by Jorge Lorenzo during the Catalan MotoGP.
The Italian rider capped his frustrating month with a crash during the Dutch round, inadvertently taking out LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami in the process, marking the first time he has suffered three straight DNFs since 2011.
With no points to add to his tally, Rossi has dropped to fifth place in the riders’ standings and most significantly 88 points off championship leader Marc Marquez, leaving the nine-time world champion in desperate need of a strong result in Germany to kick-start his campaign.
“This is not a positive time for us. The end to the race in Assen was a real shame because I felt good after the warm-up, I was fast but instead ended up with another zero,” Rossi said.
“The good thing is that now we go straight to the Sachsenring and we can immediately work on another GP weekend.
“It will be important to understand if the changes made for last Sunday's race will also be positive at the Sachsenring this weekend. We will try to be competitive right from the start on Friday.”
Rossi finished runner-up to Marquez at Sachsenring 12 months ago and is a four-time race-winner at the German round with his last triumph coming in 2009.
