Valentino Rossi received undisclosed help from Yamaha at yesterday’s Jerez MotoGP test which enabled the nine-time world champion to close in on the top men.

Rossi has barely worried the top ten so far this year due to his setup problems and the pace of the pack but the Petronas rider ended eight-tenths off the pace yesterday and a tenth slower than team-mate Franco Morbidelli who finished Sunday’s race in fourth.

“After the race, every weekend, my team and I were very depressed. Because we have to try to be faster than we were. Today we are all a little better,” said Rossi, speaking at the track.

“I’m happy because I enjoyed testing today, we worked hard and I did a lot of laps. I enjoyed riding the motorcycle. I was able to adapt it better to my driving style with a few tweaks. It was a positive day.

Of course, everyone is - as always - very quick. But we’re not that far away either. That is very important,

We worked a lot on the set-up. We tried to improve the fork set-up for the braking phase. We tried to work on the weight distribution so that we could turn faster and have more grip. Everything I’ve tried has been very positive. I got on better, especially in terms of pace. I was much faster than yesterday. “

In addition: “We also had new things from Yamaha that helped me. I’m happy, thdy supported me today and brought a few things. It was a beautiful day, also because the conditions were perfect, it was warm, but not too hot. It was a pleasure, it was beautiful. We ended the day with a good feeling. We hope that we can take that with us to Le Mans. “

“It’s always difficult to say because it’s a Monday test. So you have different conditions and a different way of working compared to the weekend. At Le Mans we will be driving on a different track and in different conditions.

“Still, I’m happy with today because I feel better with the bike. I was able to drive more precisely and was faster. We found something interesting, but to be able to answer the question we have to wait and see Le Mans. “