Rossi ‘growing stronger every day’

Valentino Rossi says he will only gets the faster as he looks ahead to the United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, less than a week after making a remarkable return to the MotoGP competition at the Sachsenring.

Rossi defied expectations by announcing his racing comeback from the injury a month earlier than originally mooted, but any fears he would take time to get up to the speed were eventually quashed by his run to fourth position in Germany.

Declaring that result as 'more than we [FIAT Yamaha] could have hoped for', Rossi now travels to Laguna Seca eager to build on that result and that continue his march back into full contention.

While it is a race that he has won just once since its return to the calendar in the 2005, Rossi's win in 2008 after an epic battle with the Casey Stoner will nonetheless go down in MotoGP folklore as one of his finest victories. Labelling the California circuit as 'fun', Rossi is looking forward to returning in this year.

"I was so happy to be back in the Sachsenring and to be fighting for the podium, even though I just missed out, was more than we could have hoped for. I still have some pain in my leg but I am growing stronger every day and I hope this week that I will be in a better shape once again and I can try to improve a little bit more.

“Laguna is different to anywhere else we go but it's always have great fun to ride there and the last two years I've had great races."