Yamaha MotoGP duo admit they're struggling in Red Bull Ring test

MotoGP will visit the Red Bull Ring for the first time in August, but Rossi and Lorenzo were only ninth and 12th respectively in testing on Tuesday as Ducati riders dominated.

“Nothing is impossible, but if we want to fight for the win in dry conditions we need to improve a lot,” said Lorenzo.

“Ducati, it looks like this is the best track for them in all the championship, probably because of the stability they have now in the braking, and good acceleration and power on the straights.

“The grip is good, so that helps the power they have. They are good in braking and in acceleration, so we cannot recover on them in any place.

“To be honest we didn’t expect to be so far from them. But I hear they have some problems with rear tyre life, they overheat a bit more the rear tyre, so I don’t know if they can keep up this speed [over a race distance].

“But in terms of speed in four or five laps, we are very far.”

“We suffer a bit with the top speed”

Rossi echoed Lorenzo’s sentiments, as he lapped 1.3s off the pace of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.

“For us, personally, it’s not the best circuit because normally we suffer a bit with the top speed, in fact we have to struggle,” said Rossi.

“But it’s just the first day, we take a lot of data, and we try to modify it tomorrow.

“It’s a particular circuit because it’s really fast and you stay a lot of time with full throttle,” he added. “Compared to normal circuits, you have a lot less corners. At the end of the lap there’s nine corners and usually it’s 15.

“It’s fast, the place is good and also the corners are OK.”

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont