Rossi seeking Assen set-up, Hayden tyre life

Valentino Rossi will try to put a poor British MotoGP behind him when the 2012 championship arrives at Assen in The Netherlands this weekend.

Just tenth in qualifying and ninth in the Silverstone race, Rossi is aiming to return to the dry level he had found at the Le Mans and Catalunya rounds.

That was still around 0.8s per lap from the top, although the factory Ducati rider will again expect to be a podium contender if it rains this weekend.

"For the moment, we can only work on the set-up to prepare the bike as we try to return to the level that we had attained prior to Silverstone, which was a very difficult race," said Rossi, indicating that no new parts will be delivered for round seven.

"We were a bit better at Barcelona and during the dry sessions at Le Mans, so we must at least regain that pace. If it should also happen to rain, we know that we can be more competitive."

Team-mate Nicky Hayden's top priority is to try and extend his rear tyre life, after running in the lead group early on at Silverstone before dropping back to seventh.

"If you look at the result of my last race, I can't say that it was really positive, but we learned a couple of things," said Hayden.

"One of those is that we need to try to come up with something to be easier on the tyre, so we don't destroy it as quickly.

"We'll work on that in the Netherlands and try to get a good result."

Assen free practice starts on Thursday.