Rossi hoping for dry race at Brno

The Yamaha rider, who leads the world championship with 212 points to Stoner's 187, will start second on the grid for Sunday's race but admitted he could do nothing about the reigning world champion's lap time of 2:11.657, set early in the wet session before conditions became too difficult.

"For sure, like everyone else, I hope it will be dry because the conditions today were really terrible!" he said. "After twenty minutes this afternoon there was too much water and it was impossible to improve the setting of the bike or the time, so I am glad I was able to do some good laps at the beginning.

"I think I can be more competitive in the dry, because also we have a few modifications to try, so hopefully it will be dry all day tomorrow to give us the best chance. Let's keep hoping and see how we go!"