Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi had to take a step backwards in terms of setup during the second Qatar MotoGP test day but managed to find pace on both the soft and hard Bridgestone tyres.

The Doctor ended a little under seven-tenths slower than Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati but less than a hundredth off team-mate Jorge Lorenzo with the pair also four-tenths behind reigning champion Marc Marquez.

Rossi’s pace looks to be close to that of Lorenzo, with eight laps in the 1’55 bracket but the pair are some way behind the Dovi and Marquez, who were well into double figures.

“It was a difficult day for me, because we tried to work a lot on the setting of the bike to improve and to be faster, but we didn’t get the improvement we expected. I was in a difficult situation, but fortunately in the last hour we modified something,” said Rossi.

“We did a step back and went a different way. The last part of the test was good, because I was fast with both the hard and the soft tyre and I was able to improve my position so I’m in the top five, but especially I was able to improve my pace and stay in the 1’55’s so at the end it was not so bad.

“We have to continue working for tomorrow and try to fix as much as possible for the weekend of the race. We have some other things to try; some different parts, settings and we have to decide on the tyres. It looks like today was hard work, a lot of laps, a lot of effort, but at the end it was a good day. We did good work and we found something good at the end.”