Rossi hoping for improved tyres

The Italian has now fallen 60 points behind Casey Stoner in the championship, and he admitted that Michelin had not made the breakthrough that they were hoping for during the post-race test at Brno.

"We had two days of testing in Brno and, although we weren't able to find the 'miracle' tyres that we were hoping for, we did give a lot of information to Michelin," he said.

"Hopefully they will have been able to use this to do some good work during this week. We will see where we are on Friday morning."

Rossi is determined to get a good result at the Italian circuit, which is very close to his hometown, but he has admitted that he cannot make any promises of scoring a second victory in Italy to add to his Mugello success earlier in the season.

"We arrive here not in such great shape, following some disappointing races," he said. "But as always we will do our best and I sincerely hope that we can give the Italian fans something to cheer about."