Rossi "in trouble" in both wet and dry at Sachsenring

The Yamaha rider finished the two sessions in 16th and 15th respectively, ending up 0.936 seconds slower than points leader Andrea Dovizioso in a dry FP1 and 1.4s down on surprise pacesetter Hector Barbera after rain hit in time for FP2.

It means Rossi risks having to fight his way through Q1 on Saturday, which is again expected to be wet.

The 38-year-old’s first session was also compromised by an early technical issue that caused his bike to stop, forcing him to return to the pits and switch to his second bike, without the new chassis he took to victory at Assen.

“Very difficult day, very frustrating, because I was in trouble in both conditions,” surmised Rossi.

“In the dry this morning I was not so bad, especially with the medium tyre, I felt quite good. I had a technical problem on the bike with the new chassis, but we continued with the other one.

“The pace was quite good until the last 10 minutes, when we tried to make the time attack, but I didn’t have any feeling with the front tyre, I was in a lot of trouble and I was slower than with the harder tyre.

“It was quite frustrating, because it was important to try to stay in the top 10 to go to Q2, but [there was] no way.”

He added: “In the wet, I was more optimistic because last year I was strong, but with the new asphalt we are a lot in trouble. We are not good with the balance of the bike and I’m always very slow.”

“We need to improve, in both conditions, because like this we are a lot in trouble.”

Rossi, however, was keen to stress that the new surface at the Sachsenring wasn’t to blame per se for his troubles.

“For me the tarmac is very good, they did a good job," he clarified. "The situation with the bumps has improved a lot, and the asphalt has more grip. The problem is for us, not the track.”

Vinales mystified by wet issues

Rossi’s Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales likewise struggled to make an impression in the wet on Friday, ending up down in 20th, but set the second-fastest time in FP1, just 0.038s behind Dovizioso.

“This morning I was quite happy with how the bike was working, quite consistent, with all the tyres we tried, quite good, really stable,” said Vinales.

“But in the afternoon I don't know why we're struggling so much on the wet. It's not normal, normally we were competitive - not the best one, but competitive. But here it's a totally different feeling.

“Honestly, the braking point is quite okay, but when I release the brake, then a lot of problems come. So we have to work hard, in case tomorrow it's wet.”

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont