Valentino Rossi says the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix will be “very important” to gauge Yamaha's gains with its 2019 bike, following a strong start to the year.
Rossi currently sits just three points shy of the championship lead in second after securing back-to-back second-places in Argentina and Austin, and he feels Yamaha has definitely “improve” the M1.
However, after winning at Jerez in 2016, Rossi suffered a slump at the Spanish venue in the two seasons following, with 10th and fifth-place finishes after “very difficult” weekends.
“[It] will be very important to understand if we are stronger, if we are faster, if we improve the bike,” Rossi started.
“Because last year was a very difficult weekend [at Jerez]. I was always not so far, so my speed was not enough.
“Looks like in the first races we are competitive, we improve the bike, and here it will be a good weekend to see how much and if we are fast enough [to challenge for the podium].”
The run of strong results in 2019 has also led to a “better” atmosphere within the team than during his winless 2018 campaign, according to Rossi.
“I'm very happy about the start of the season, because in the [first] three races I was always quite strong and I take some important points,” he added.
“And now start the most important part of the season from Jerez. We will have a lot of European tracks that are very good [for Yamaha].
“So we need to understand. The target is to fight for the championship, try to stay there.
“The atmosphere in the team is better than last year, because it is all correlated to the results.”
Team-mate Maverick Vinales believes the “good steps” Yamaha has made with the bike so far means the Japanese marque heads to a “potentially” strong venue.
“I'm happy because finally we arrive to the European rounds,” he said.
“In Austin, despite the problems we encountered, I felt very good riding my bike and I had a very good race pace.
“We've had some difficulties in Jerez in the past, but I think that we've made good steps lately, so potentially we could be arriving at a very good track for the Yamaha.
“I hope to be fighting for the podium from the start of the race. We are going to work very hard all week to make it happen.”
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