Valentino Rossi has lost sixth in the world championship to ro꧃okie Fabio Quartararo after falling from eleventh place in the closing stages of Sunday's Japanese MotoGP.

The Italian had qualified down in tenth position, then lost four places on the opening lap and could only mount a minor recovery by 𒐪the time he suffered his fourth D𝓀NF of the season.

Countryman Andrea Iannone (A🌜prilia) was the onlꦡy other rider to fall.

"I started quite bad, not in the first corner, but after thatꦚ I was in the middle of the chaos and lost time," said the Monster Yamaha rider. "Then my pace was not good enough to recover positions fast. I managed to recovered a few🍸, but I was not very strong.

"On some laps my pace was not so bad, but everybody was fast so it was very 💙difficult to recover from behind. And at the end – I haven't seen the data yet – but I think I made a small mistake☂ in Turn 1, closed the front and crashed.

"But anyway it was a difficult race."

In an effort to get back on terms with team-mate Maverick Vinales and Petronas Yamaha star Quartararo, Rossi switch🅠ed away from the new carbon fibre swingarm and double exhaust this weekend.

The Doctor also experimented wi𒀰th braking technique but, while feeling he had a more consistent pace than in the previous races, still wasn't fast enough.

"I think this time I was stronger compared to the last two races but I started too far back. My potential was to be with Rins [7th] and Crutchlow [5th], I had the same pace as the🅺m," he said.

"My pace was quite constant until the end, so for that reason we were going better. But anyway, it's a bit of a difficult moment becuase in the last races we are not fast enough. We don’t have the sp♍eed that we want.

"We have to be faster to be abl🌌e🌟 to fight for better positions."

ꦚA fourth podium in the last six races has put Quartararo 18 points ahead of Rossi, with Petronas team-mate Franco Morbidelli (tenth) now the only Yamaha rider behind Rossi in the championship standings.

The good news for Rossi is that he heads straight to one of his fa✤vourite tracks, Phillip Island in 💦Australia, where he will attempt to end the now 13-race podium drought.

"Phillip Island is always great, because the track is one of the best," he said. "But we will have to look at the data and 🅷see if we can understand how to be faster there."