Rossi aiming for French victory

Valentino Rossi is aiming to get his Moto GP championship challenge back on track in this weekend’s French Grand Prix.

The 28-year-old Italian lies second in the championship but has slipped to 15 points behind surprise leader Casey Stoner – who has triumphed in three of the first four races of the season.

But the five-time world champion believes the next few tracks on the calendar, starting at the Le Mans circuit, will favour his Yamaha – renowned as the best-handling bike in the field – over Stoner's Ducati.

And his confidence seems especially well placed as his second place in China proved that Yamaha were far closer to Ducati in terms of performance than many expected on a high-speed track where the Italian manufacturer should have excelled.

"China was encouraging for us because our bike worked perfectly in qualifying and then also in the race, when we expected more problems," said Rossi.

"I think our bike is very, very good and although we lack a little bit of top speed this won't be such a problem at the next few circuits as it was in China. I think we're in good shape."

"As far as Le Mans goes, our Yamaha has always gone well there. I'm very happy to go back to Europe and this next run of races is over some of my favourite tracks, where I know I'm always strong.

"It's a very busy time with seven races in just over two months but it's also a key part of the championship and I'm ready to race at 100 per cent."

Rossi has won twice at Le Mans and was leading comfortably last year until a mechanical problem robbed him of victory.

"I definitely have a score to settle at Le Mans after what happened last year, when I should have won the race!" added Rossi. "Anyway, everything is different now and I'm very determined and looking forward to this next race.

Our Yamaha has always gone well there and until the problem of last year it was really flying."

Rossi's Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards lies seventh in the championship but has scored only five points in the last two races and needs a few convincing results with the squad already sniffing around 250cc world champion Jorge Lorenzo for next year.

EuroSport