Valentino Rossi's chances of finishing higher up the MotoGP leaderboard at Brno were thwarted by an oil leak on his ▨works Ducati.

Smoke could clearly be seen emanating from Rossi's Desmosedici during the race and althoug𒐪h the issue did not affect engine performance, the Italian had to c🌼ontend with oil leaking onto the footrests of the bike.

𝐆Rossi, who finished in seventh place, also experienced a loss of grip in the closing stages, which further impacted on his final resul🧸t.

"I started well and the early laps weren't bad, although the bike started to lose oil right from the ℱbeginning,♔" he said.

"It went on the footrests and th🍷e brake and shift levers which bothered me, as my feet were slipping everywhere.

"I probably could have done a bit better without that inconvenience, and maybe I would have finished 𝄹close to [Andrea] Dovizioso.

"Anyway, I al🦋so had to ꦉslow down because the rear tyre began sliding too much after some laps, which has been our problem," he added.

"Now we'll see in the test at Misano in two days if we can manage to find some♋thing to help us in the last races."

Rossi and the Ducati team will test at Misano on Tuesday and Wednesday rather than staying in the Czech Republic to test with the remaining MotoGP teams𒐪 an✃d riders.

His team-mate, Nicky Hayden, will mis🎐s the test as he continues to recover from injury in the USA.

Hayden is expected to ⛦return for the San Marino round of the championship.