Ducati's Valentino Rossi has said a small change to his rear spring and position cost him the grip his Demsosedici usually displays in wet conditions and he was unable to challenge for a decent qualifying position in today's sopping MotoGP qualification session at the Sachsenring.

Although The Doctor and his crew haven't yet figured out why he is usually much more competitive in the wet, the small change robbed him of vital rear traction on corner entry and he lost most of his time in the middle sectors of the twisty German circuit,

"We expect more from the wet session because usually we are more competitive. We did a mistake on the setting because after this morning we did a modify as this amount of water give me some problems, especially in the fast T2 and T3 parts, and I have not enough rear grip in the entry so I lose a lot," said Rossi, speaking to bikesportnews.com this evening.

"It was a mix between the spring and the position of the bike so when I enter always a lot of slide and I lose speed. I'm quite positive that if it will be wet we can fix because it is very clear.

"I was quite fast in the T1 and T4 but I lose very much in the other parts, so at the end I am just ninth. The problem is quite clear from the data so I think we can adjust for tomorrow. So, in case of wet race we can be quite competitive but the forecast say it will be dry so this is a great question mark because we did just one practice."