Rossi targets Sachsenring podium.

Valentino Rossi is aiming to fight his way up from seventh on the German Grand Prix grid to a podium finish in Sunday's race.

The Fiat Yamaha star, who sits just four points behind world championship leader Dani Pedrosa, won the 2006 event from eleventh on the grid - but with reigning champion Casey Stoner, 29 points from the title lead, enjoying such incredible form a repeat of that epic victory looks unlikely.

Instead, the Italian says he will consider Sunday's race a success if he can finish in the top three after suffering grip problems and being held up by team-mate Jorge Lorenzo during qualifying.

"Today things didn't go how we hoped with the qualifying tyres," confirmed Rossi. "We had four as usual and, with the best one, unfortunately I found Jorge on the last corner. He was slowing down to enter the pits and he didn't ...