Valentino Rossi hopes the new ♐track surface at ♛Catalunya will show the Movistar Yamaha in its best light this weekend after a difficult race in 2017.

🥃Rossi won in Barcelona in 2016 but struggled last season in a race he🎃 describes as ‘one of the most difficult of the season’ after finishing in eighth place.

New asphalt has been laid at Catalunya this yea💙r while the layout has also changed, reverting back to the🐓 fast penultimate corner rather than the F1 chicane.

Rossi said: “This is a track that I love, that I like a lot, but in the last year we had a very different result. In 2016, we had 🌌a victory but last year was one of the most difficult races of the season.

“I struggled very much and we didn’t expect, especially from 2016. After this race we sta🐽rted to have a lot of problems in the second half and we were not strong like we expect.

“So it is ཧimportant and the ඣtrack has changed a lot with the new layout, but especially the new asphalt, so a lot less bumps like we saw in the test and more grip – all the things that can help us for our performance.

“It will be very 🐓important to understand o꧃ur level.”