"It's always very special for me to race in front of my home fans and Misano is so close to my home that it should be something amazing!" said Rossi, who now has just six races to topple Ducati star Stoner. "Anyway, we arrive here not in such great shape, following some disappointing races. We had two days of testing in Brno and, although we weren't able to find the 'miracle' tyres that we were hoping for, we did give a lot of information to Michelin and hopefully they will have been able to use this to do some good work during this week. We will see where we are on Friday morning.
"About the track, now they've turned it around it's like a new track for everyone. Even Colin [Edwards], who knows it well from Superbikes, is expecting that his previous knowledge won't help, so I think it's fair to say that we're all in the same boat. As always we will do our best and I sincerely hope that we can give the Italian fans something to cheer about!" he concluded.
"Mugello is always an important race for us but Misano is something new and it's a special place because of the history attached to the circuit," added Fiat Yamaha team director Davide Brivio. "It is a second home for Valentino and I'm sure there will be an incredible crowd there for him because it's so close to Tavullia. It is an area where the passion for motorcycles is very strong and hopefully a lot of fans will come.
"For us it is a difficult moment to be going there but you can never be sure what will happen in racing. We're working hard on our package to try and improve the situation for both our riders and racing at Misano is just an extra motivation for all of us to do well. The new engine we tested at Brno will now go back to Japan for further development and we hope to have it available as soon as possible after this weekend."
