Valentino Rossi had a tough morning at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, before shooting up the timesheets in a late time-attack to take second.

The nine-time World Champion first worked on setup, and evaluated different frames and fairings.

Despite stronger winds, the skies were blue and the Italian put in 77 laps, with a best of 1:29.683 – less than two-tenths off arch rival Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) at the top of the timesheets.

“It was a good day, I‘m quite satisfied. We started in a difficult way this morning." Said the Doctor.

"Before the break I wasn‘t strong enough and because I couldn‘t push at the maximum I didn‘t have a lot of feeling."

We worked well during the break and in the afternoon the situation changed, I was a bit better." He added "At the end, with the new tyre, I was able to do a good lap and second position is positive for the first day."

"For sure, we still have a lot to do, especially on the long distance and we hope to have good weather also in the next few days.”