Rossi predicts another Ducati win at Jerez

Casey Stoner's Ducati repeatedly stormed past Rossi's Yamaha on the pits straight on the way to winning Saturday's Grand Prix of Qatar, leaving Rossi in no doubt about where Ducati's advantage lies.

"We need more power," he was quoted as saying by Gazzetta Dello Sport. "Our Yamaha will never go as quick on a straight as the Ducati.

"We have the agility, the speed in turns. But we need to reduce the gap to fight with Stoner.

"It won't happen in time for Jerez. It will come later, I don't know when. We have new bits which we want to try immediately.

"In these conditions it is hard to compete, but in curves we are faster than the Ducati: in some sections I was gaining a lot."

Rossi admitted that he had been surprised not only by the Ducati's power, but by the performance of Stoner's Bridgestone tyres after apparent problems in testing, and the quality of the young Australian's ride.

"Ducati won with (Troy) Bayliss the last 1000cc race, and now they've won the first one in the 800cc formula. The situation hasn't changed then: maybe they didn't really change the engine!" Rossi joked.

"To have 15 km/h more on the straight lets you race more calmly, since you know you can easily overtake there.

"On top of that, I didn't expect the Bridgestone tyres to be so good. I noticed they've also done a good tactical job, as they were able to hide (their performance) well (in testing). We had thought Bridgestone tyres would have had more problems at the end of the race.

"Historically Stoner has been a rider who made many mistakes. Here he rode like a champion. He didn't do anything wrong. He was good and he has spirit.

"He did his fastest lap at the end. He was from another planet. Stoner and Ducati really surprised me."

Although he pushed Stoner until the final lap of the race, Rossi said that he knew early on that he could not beat the Ducati.

"I asked myself: what can we do here? Nothing, I thought, here I'll end up second," he said.

"I tried to bother him a bit, so it would have been more fun. But he ran away from me when my tyres started sliding at the end. I'm happy I was the last one surrendering."

Rossi also expects Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa to give him a hard time in forthcoming races, even though the Spaniard faded to a distant third in Qatar after pushing Rossi in the opening laps.

"I was always ahead of Pedrosa in the twisty section, while he was faster on the straight. I'm under no illusions, his Honda will be competitive," said Rossi.