MotoGP riders keen to assess Red Bull Ring safety in test this week

The bulk of the field will sample the circuit on Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for the Austrian Grand Prix on August 14, other than the factory Honda outfit and Tech3 Yamaha.

KTM will join its future rivals on track with its MotoGP prototype, while Casey Stoner will test again with Ducati, which has hired the venue for the two days.

Championship leader Marc Marquez declared it would pose a tricky challenge following a promotional event last month where he and Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa flagged several safety concerns following laps on road bikes.

"I was there 20 years ago [in 125cc in the last Austrian GP], and I don't remember it very well," Valentino Rossi said.

"But some riders used the track, like Marc, and for me there are three or four points that are quite dangerous, like the exit from the last corner.

"We will go to the test and we will check with MotoGP bikes and we hope that if we have some dangerous points we can try to fix the problem and improve the situation."

The Red Bull Ring has been resurfaced this year, with many of its kerbs reprofiled to accommodate MotoGP.

The yellow 'sausage kerbs' that caused controversy during Formula 1's visit earlier this month will not be part of the layout.

"I'm definitely looking forward to going there but I don't think it's going to suit our bike so much this year," LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow said.

"We know the straights are quite difficult with the Honda at the moment.

"But we also discussed a little bit the kerbs and the safety of the track, in the safety commission.

"We'll see on Tuesday and Wednesday how it is."

It is believed Marquez lapped in the 1m29s on Honda's roadgoing RC213V-S, with lap times in the 1m24s-1m25s bracket predicted for MotoGP machinery.

Marquez said he was not too fazed about missing the test.

"Of course I would prefer to test with the MotoGP bike," he said.

"[There] still remains two days for testing in the rules but we prefer to keep these for the new bike," he said.

"Minimum we know the track, but the good thing is that the other Honda riders, like Crutchlow and Marc VDS, will be there."