Rossi: Tech 3 beating works Yamahas no major concern

This month's Sachsenring race marked the second time in the last three events that the best Tech 3 rider finished ahead of both Rossi and Maverick Vinales, as Folger took second place behind winner Marc Marquez.

The previous instance came at Barcelona, where both Rossi and Vinales struggled on the low-grip track surface, but a subsequent introduction of a new chassis at Assen has led to a small upturn in fortunes, with the Italian winning his first race of the year at the Dutch track.

Despite failing to match Folger in Germany, Rossi insists he's relaxed about the situation with the Tech 3 riders, as he puts their success down to superior riding rather than any inherent advantage of the 2016 bike.

"I think during the season a lot of time the Tech 3 riders demonstrate a good feeling with the 2016 bike," said Rossi. "Also because they are good riders.

"They are strong, and like in Le Mans Zarco and [in Germany] Folger ride in a great way. He’s always able to fast, keep the rear tyre, so the riders make the difference and we have to congratulate them."

Asked if being beaten by the satellite Yamaha riders was a worry, Rossi replied: "No, I’m happy because if we didn’t have the new chassis, [it would have been like] Jerez or Barcelona. So we are in a good way.

"Like I said, we have to try to arrive in front of the satellite bikes, but on the other side in the championship, we are in front. So in nine races we make more points than the satellite bikes.

"We are a factory team, we are factory riders, all the manufacturers try to improve. If not, it’s finished."

Third rider on 2017 bike

Unlike Yamaha, both Honda and Ducati have the benefit of a third current-spec bike being raced by a satellite outfit, with Pramac gaining access to an up-to-date GP17 Ducati for this year.

Danilo Petrucci races that bike, while the Honda used by LCR's Cal Crutchlow is of a similar specification to that of works riders Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.

But Rossi says that fielding a third 2017 bike would only be worthwhile for Yamaha if it could find a rider as quick as its current factory duo.

"For sure yes," Rossi replied when asked if Yamaha fielding another 2017 machine could help its situation. "But the difficult [thing] is you have to go very fast, like in the race.

"Not a lot of people that can make this laptime. [Test rider Katsuyuki] Nakasuga is fast, because he won a lot of times in [All-Japan] Superbike and [the Suzuka] 8 Hours, but he’s not like us."

Additional reporting by David Gruz