Rossi still focused on points not victory

Yesterday the MotoGP championship leader suggested that his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and Honda's Dani Pedrosa were likely to outpace him at the Italian track, so he would probably have to settle for a podium - but he then beat both his main rivals in this afternoon's session.

Although he acknowledged that he might change his plans if the Yamaha was quick enough to win on Sunday, he insisted that after crashing out at Indianapolis, his target for this weekend was just to avoid errors and protect his points lead.

"It depends a lot on the feeling from the bike," said Rossi. "I have already made some mistakes this year, so now it's important to keep a lot of points and arrive at the end of all the races. This is the target."

Lorenzo cut Rossi's points lead from 50 to 25 points when he won in America and Rossi crashed out while running second, but the multiple champion said he had learned from the mistake.

"At Indianapolis we threw away 20 points that were very important, and now we come back with 25 advantage," he said. "It's a good position. 25 is not a great advantage but it's an important advantage, and now we have to work better all the weekend.

"If we are not okay, like at Indianapolis, just take points, because on Sunday it is already important to just get on the podium and take some points for the rankings."

He is optimistic that he will be in better shape at Misano than last weekend, though, having made great strides with his set-up at the end of practice.

"At Indianapolis we were not 100 per cent with the rear of the bike, but the bigger issue was with the front grip," Rossi said.

"I think today we worked well with the team, because we tried three different ways, and one way worked well. So it's a good start.

"But my idea is that it's very important after a mistake to try to get a lot of points and the target remains to make the podium."