Marlboro Ducati's Valentino Rossi has been given the chassis updates he so desperately requires as, at Assen's MotoGP round, his team will roll out the GP11.1 – a 2012 chassis allied to an 800cc motor and new gearbox.

Rossi has already tested the new chassis several times and said it is far better than the current version. The new gearbox, called Ducati Seamless Transmission, is thought to be very close to Honda's new quickshift system in the way it works.

“Assen is one of my tracks – one of those that I like most and where I’ve had some nice races in all the classes. We’ll try to take advantage of that good feeling and of our experience at this circuit because Thursday morning we’ll debut some updates to my bike that are very promising but also very fresh," said The Doctor.

"Filippo [Preziosi], the guys at Ducati and the Test Team have worked really hard, and that has enabled us to make this new step with the development of our bike. We haven’t had the chance to test the 800 since Estoril, so we’ll do it during the race weekends, being aware that despite having very limited time, we’ll have to focus on two jobs: making basic adjustments to the new technical parts, and finding a general setup for the race on Saturday.

"We’ll have to do a good job on the track in order to get the most out of the work done at the factory. It will be hard, and we know it might take some time before we can completely reach the potential of the whole package, but we’re happy and motivated by the work we’re doing.”