Rossi aims to turn tables at Assen

Championship leader Rossi was unable to match his Ducati rival during the British Grand Prix weekend, after Stoner seemed to find a breakthrough in performance following a difficult start to the season.

Now Rossi, last year's winner at Assen, is aiming to turn things around and return to the top step of the podium.

"I'm really glad that we're going straight on to Assen, which is another of my favourite circuits," said Rossi, a six-time winner in Assen, in a team preview.

"Donington was good and we took important points and extended our championship lead but it was still a bit disappointing not to be able to fight at the front with Stoner and I am happy that I only have to wait a few days to try to turn this around.

"Last year's race in Assen was magic, the best of the year, and I would like to repeat that victory again this year.

"Once again Donington showed how strong our rivals are, so we can't rest even for a moment and we have to be on our best form from Friday morning if we want to achieve our aim of getting back to the top of the podium."

Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo is also in positive mood following confidence-boosting sixth place finish at Donington.

"Thinking about Sunday's race is still giving me a lot of pleasure and it makes me feel much more confident about riding than I felt this time one week ago," said Lorenzo.

"I hope, after the good result in the UK, that the bad times of the recent weeks are now just a memory and in fact I won't be thinking about them at all anymore, only about the rest of the season..

"I had a lot of fun on Sunday, which I wasn't necessarily expecting, and this has helped me to move on and look forward to the next races."