Rossi gunning for six in a row at Mugello

Valentino Rossi has been imperious at the Italian Grand Prix since 2002 and the Italian goes for a sixth successive victory at Mugello on Sunday.

The seven-times world champion lies second in the MotoGP standings, 21 points behind Australian Casey Stoner after five races, but is the undisputed master of the twisting Tuscan circuit in the hills north of Florence.

Rossi has finished top of the podium at Mugello every year since the MotoGP class was introduced in 2002.

"I've got a special relationship with Mugello. I've won many races there, in particular the last three years with Yamaha," he said.

Rossi made a good start to the season, riding his Yamaha to second place behind Stoner in the opening race in Qatar before winning in Spain.

Since then, however, he has gone off the boil. Second place in the Chinese grand prix in early May was sandwiched between a tenth-place finish in Turkey and sixth place at a wet Le Mans circuit two weeks ago.

Stoner, meanwhile, notched up two more wins and a third place to take control of the championship.