If tenth place from twelfth on the grid prompted public criticism of Ducati from Valentino Rossi in Qatar, what woཧuld he say after finishing ninth from a 13th place start at Jerez on Sunday?

The struggling seven time MotoGP champi💝on was almost 𒐪exactly the same margin from victory on both occasions, 34 seconds, yet the Italian cast a more upbeat view of the situation in Spain.

"The positive thing from today's race is that I think it might help us to do a bit bet🍨ter in the coming events, starting next week in Portugal," said Rossi.

The reason for Rossi's optimism was the switch to a more Ducati-style set-up, 'very similar' to that used by team-mate Nicky Hayden - Rossi admitting after Saturday's disastrous qualifying that ideas he and his crew had used with great success in the past 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: simply weren't working:

"I know what to do to go faster, but unfortunately it doesn't work with the Ducati," he had said. "My team is in the exa♑ct same 💟position. For 30 years with different bikes and all the tricks they do to go faster don't work with this bike."

That prompted the ch😼ange in set-up ideology, although Rossi went into the race 'almost blind' and see-sawed between tenth and eleventh position for the opening ten laps.

"Today we used a set-up🍸 that's new for us, and it gave some positive signs. [We had] tried some solutions to give me a feeling simi🦩lar to what I've had [with other bikes] in the past, but it doesn't work," he confirmed.

"Today's setting was very similar to what Nicky has used for a while, thoug﷽h not exactly the same. I must get used to riding the bike a bit differently than I'm used to, and today that caused me to lose some ground in the early laps because I was basically starting blind.

"I wasn't going bad once I found my rhythm, in the sense that I was matching the times of those who were fighting for sixth place, and I was able to🐼 push until the end, doing a 1:41.0 on the penultimate lap.

"This helps me to be a little more optimistic as I look ahead to the next races because if I'm able to ride a bit better, it could be a place for us to start from. In fact, we'll use this setting when we start on𝓰 Friday [in Estoril]."

Rossi spent the seco🍃nd half of the race locked in battle for ninth with satellite Ducati rider Hector Barbera, whom Rossi had claimed is only focused on beating him - regardless of the position - after the Spaniard sent Rossi wide with a close pass in Qatar.

This time Rossi got the upper hand, but only by a quarter of a second. Barbera still has the previous 'Valen🎀cia-spec' GP12.

Hayden, who had qualified on the front row, was the top Desmosedici at Jerez, finishing one place and six seconds in front o𝄹f Rossi.

Hayden was the sam😼e distance from victory, 28 seconds, as he had been when he claimed sixth place at Losail.

Free prac🧜tice for the Portuguese Grand Prix takes place on Frida💛y.