Rossi to make Sachsenring decision on Wednesday

Valentino Rossi completed a test ride at the Brno circuit on Monday on board a YZF-R1 world superbike machine, as he and the Fiat Yamaha team made further assessments of the Italian’s current physical condition.

Ending the test having completed 46 laps and with a best time in the 1’59.1 region the World Champion reported that he felt less pain than he had done following last Wednesday’s outing at Misano, which was his first time back on two wheels since he fractured his right tibia at Mugello at the start of June.

“I’m very happy with how it went, I felt much better than in Misano – last week was pretty hard but I feel better and better and we have had five days between those two tests. This time my knee and shoulder didn’t hurt as much,” said Rossi on Monday evening.

A decision on whether the 31 year-old will make his competitive return at Sachsenring this weekend will be made on Wednesday, after he has X-rays to measure the stage of the recovery of the fracture in his right leg.

“Now I’ll have to wait to take a decision on Wednesday after we have some X-rays as to whether I race or not in Germany. Doing a full race will be a different story, but I still have another couple of days to get a bit better,” commented Rossi.

“Racing in the next two races would be important in order to be in good shape in Brno (on August 15th), however I think we’ll have to wait until Misano (on September 5th) to be fully competitive.”

Rossi completed a series of runs on board the YZF-R1, which was prepared for the reigning MotoGP World Champion by the Yamaha WSB team, and his final assessment of how he felt was encouraging.

“Riding the YZF-R1 was good fun, I have to thank the team for preparing the bike for me,” he stated. “We had to work a bit on my leg before checking the bike set-up. It went well and I managed some good lap times, it’s a good way to get back into action.”

motogp.com will bring you news on the decision of Rossi and the Fiat Yamaha team when an official announcement is made!