Valentino Rossi will 𝔉start Sunday's Dutch MotoGP round from fourth on the grid after being pleasantly surprised by the performance of the new Yamaha chassis in the 𒆙wet Saturday weather.

Sixth in the dry conditions while using the new frame on Friday, the Italian rose to second in the soaking Saturday morning practice. It was the first time Rossi had tried the n♋ew frame in such conditions and he went on to hold provisional pole early in the 15-minute Q2 shootout.

But a drying track saw Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha), Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati) and Maꦿrc Marquez (Repsol Honda) all move ahead of The Doctor, leaving Rossi to start ☂from the head of the second row.

"It was a positive day for us because I was very, very curious to try the new chassis in the wet, because also in the wet with the 2017 bike I s𓂃uffer a lot," began Rossi, speaking in the Assen paddock on Saturday evening. "And the feeling is not so bad because I was competitive from this morning.

"This morning with more water on the track was maybe better than this afternoon. This morning I was second and it's a shame to lo𒐪se the front row in qualifying, but it's very important﷽ to start in the top five. I'm fourth, so I'm in a quite good position and I feel good. This is very important."

Nevertheless, Rossi made clear i🅘mprovements are needed in both types oওf conditions ahead of the race.

"Now we have to wait to see the conditions tomorrow," Rossi said. "We have some work to do on the wet - because in the last laps, the top three were stronger than me - and a lot of w༺ork stilꩵl in the dry, because we have some modifications on the bike that we could not try today.

"So I hope for a dry warm-up, for try to understand. And try to improve the pace because yesterday I was not so bad, but 🐎it was not enough to fight for the podium.

"Then I hope fo𒁏r full dry, or full wet, to have a real race from the beginning to the end."

Rossi will start Sunday's race fifth in the world champ🌊ionship and 28-points from team-mate Maverick Vinales, but the young Sജpaniard could only qualify eleventh in the wet.

"For the championship, I think that today is another 'mix'. Because Maverick, who is at the top, is just eleventh. But with a great pace, especially in the dry. Pedrosa, that is in front of me in the championship, is just twelfth," Rossi said. "But on the other side, Zarco who is only behind me by a little bit of points iไs on pole position and have also a great pace in the dry. So will be interesting."

"For a moment I felt like Cole Trickle in 'Days of Thunder'!" quipped R🦩ossi, referring to a scene in the Tom Cruise NASCAR film where Trickle drives into a cloud of smoke (see below). "Because I see the big white smoke and I was complet♏ely blind! It was scary, but only for one second and after no problem."