Ducati will bring some new parts to Monday's Estoril MotoGP test in order to further work on the rear traction problem experienced by both Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, with The Doctor saying he is confident a solution will be found this season.

The team have already tried to load the rear tyre more in order to get more grip but Rossi is still experiencing the same understeer which has plagued him since the end of 2010. He isn't hopeful that a cure will be found in the short term but was pleased with the progress made today in qualifying, where he finished only eight-tenths behind Casey Stoner.

"We have some progress with modify the setting and working on this setting I can be a bit faster than the first two races because I can brake and make entry at quite a good speed but the bike remain with a tendancy to understeer, especially compared to the Yamaha but the problem with acceleration I am quite optimistic to try to improve the situation during the season," said Rossi, speaking to bikesportnews.com this evening.

"The problem with the understeer, I don't know if is possible in the shorter time, we need more. We are waiting for some new stuff for test on Monday and some other tests at Mugello but I don't know exactly when but we expect some improvement.

"We managed to improve in T4, the sector where we had problems yesterday. We loaded the rear of the bike to improve grip, which worked. I’m also doing better on the brakes, so I should be able to fight better during battles. We’ll see. Tyres will be important, because the soft is difficult to manage to the end, whereas with the hard, it’s very difficult to push in the beginning."