Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi has explained that his new helmet design, which features Donkey from the Shrek films, is taking the piss out of himself for his crash at Indianapolis.

The Doctor says that in Italy, if you make a big mistake, then you're known as a a donkey, so he had a special AGV lid designed to reflect his cock-iup in America.

"If anyone is wondering about my helmet... I have the donkey on it because in Italy, if you make a stupid mistake we say that you are a donkey. I made a mistake in Indy so this is why! I think it's very funny!

"We expected it to be a bit cooler today but in the end it wasn't so different from yesterday and it's still very hard work for all the riders. This afternoon the grip wasn't great and we found it a bit harder with the race pace, but then we made a second round of modifications and everything felt very good.

"I am very happy to get the pole position here in Misano. I was able to do a great first lap on my final tyre and that was enough for pole, and the team changed the tyre in the time of an F1 pit stop so thanks to them! We know that it's going to be a very tough race tomorrow, but we are in good shape."