Valentino Rossi has wished his Ducati replacement Andrea Dovizioso the best of luck as he joins the team in 2013 and said he expects big changes in the team with new owner Audi's input.
Rossi warned Dovizioso the Ducati is a very different bike to ride from the Japanese racers he is used to and difficult to ride on the limit of grip.
"Ducati is very different for ride the bike and bring the limit. It is impossible to say for Dovi whether it will be more difficult or less. I think that anyway from next year a lot of things will change in Ducati, so I have to give my good luck to Dovi and especially to Ducati to fix some problem on the bike and be more competitive," said The Doctor, speaking to bikesportnews.com this evening.
The nine-time world champion managed to stay within half a second of fastest man Dani Pedrosa in second free practice this afternoon and said he is able to ride in a better way compared to the brace of American races just past, where he simply couldn't find a setup that worked.
"Today was a better day for us as already from this morning I was quite fast and this afternoon we continue to work well on the bike and find some different setting for understand the way to follow. Also this afternoon I was not so bad, especially we are happy as the distance from the top guys is just less than half a second so is not so bad," said Rossi.
"It is important for us as the last two races in America were very difficult os is important time to go faster and here in Brno also last year I was not so bad in the dry and was one of the best race, so we confirm the Ducati is fast here in Brno, I can push and I'm not very far now.
"For tomorrow we have some more stuff to try in case the top guys go faster, we have to improve our pace. I want to start in a better position compared to the last two races and understand also which tyre to use. I try the hard this afternoon and slide a bit too much.
"Laguna and especially in Indy it was very difficult for me to ride the bike. We were never able to find the right setting and I have a lot of problem, especially on the left. Here I can ride the bike in a better way."
