Ducati hopeful Yamaha will let Rossi test

Rossi's Yamaha deal runs until beyond the end of the season, meaning he will still be contracted to the Japanese manufacturer for the traditional end of season test on the three days after the Valencia finale.

Yamaha's Masao Furusawa has stated only that Rossi will be "wearing blue until the end of the year", implying that he will not be released for the test.

But Ducati team boss Filipo Preziosi expects Rossi to take part in the test with Ducati.

"We will grant any of Furusawa's wishes, we'll even paint the bike blue," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I don't want to believe that [Yamaha won't allow Rossi to test] and it would be bad - last time that happened [Honda in 2003] it didn't bring much luck."

Even though Rossi will be at Ducati next year, Preziosi reckons Jorge Lorenzo at Yamaha will still be the title favourite.

"Lorenzo will not change bikes so he will be super favourite next year, it will be on equal footing in 2012," he added. "It's tough, but we've done the right thing."