Valentino Rossi hopes he will be back to full fitness for the German MotoGP race at the Sachsenring on Sunday.
The Camel Yamaha rider has battled through the pain barrier to finish the last two GPs after fracturing a bone in his left hand in the Dutch TT at Assen.
Rossi finished eighth at Assen and was then second at the Gas British GP at Donington Park, leaving him third in the standings.
Rossi trails Repsol Honda pair Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa by 35 and nine points respectively in the championship table.
Rossi feels he has had enough recovery time thanks to the help of physiotherapist Marco Montanari and respected surgeon Claudio Costa.
'I am very confident that by Sachsenring my hand will be back to 100%, or near enough,' said Rossi.
'I have been working hard with my physiotherapist Marco Montanari and Dr Costa and hopefully it will continue to improve at this rate.'
Rossi aims to close the gap on championship leader Hayden by making the best use of his track time at Sachsenring.
"The important thing for Sachsenring is that we come out of the (pit) box on Friday morning ready to make the most of every available minute of practice time," he added.
'We can't afford to lose time in practice with set-up problems like we had in Donington, and I am sure that Yamaha has been working at the maximum over the break so we will be ready to be competitive from Friday morning.
'Sachsenring is quite a different track, very tight and twisty, but last year our bike worked very well there, we were able to win and hopefully that will be the case again this year.'
