Rossi confident he will conquer Indy

Despite heavy rain that made set-up work and acclimatisation to the new circuit challenging, the 29-year-old seven-time world champion was confident that he had gained enough experience of the new-for-2008 layout to be confident of another successful weekend.

"I think we have good potential here and I feel like if it was dry then I could be quite fast as well, but it looks like this won't be the case at the moment," he said. "Anyway, the situation is okay, my bike and tyres are working well so far so we will try to improve again tomorrow."

Rossi echoed the comments of his FIAT Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo by expressing his concerns for the level of grip on the new asphalt the covers the new section the runs through from Turn One.

"The biggest problem is the difference in the asphalt, which changes too much, and the new asphalt doesn't drain so well; if this weather becomes worse things will be very difficult," he warned.

"I am really sad about the rain because it's fantastic to be here and I felt quite a strong emotion leaving the garage for the first time this morning, at such a historic place.

"I really hope that the weather improves so that we can have some crowds here on Sunday!"

Rossi added that he liked the circuit, a new addition to MotoGP for this season, saying that he had enjoyed riding on track, which is based on a reverse version of the one used by Formula One up until this year.

"After some worries yesterday it seems that the track is not so bad and in fact it's a lot more fun to ride than I expected; it's like Rio in places," he said.

"There are some parts that have a few problems and we can definitely improve them for the future, especially Turn Five and Turn One, but for now I think it is okay."