Dani Pedrosa may currently be out of action with a fractured hand, but Valentino Rossi says it won't take long for young Spaniard to make an impact on the 2008 MotoGP World Championship.

Pedrosa was injured during the very first day of 2008 testing, at Sepang on January 22 - and has since missed a potential eight days of pre-season testing.

Meanwhile, his Hondateam is still working flat out to get its pneumatic-valve engine up to speed, with Nicky Haydennow having to shoulder all of the factory RC212V development work alone.

Nevertheless, Rossi believes Pedrosa will soon bounce back.

"Pedrosa's crash was very unlucky and for sure it is a small problem in terms of development, but I am sure that Pedrosa will be in the fight for the world championship," said Rossi.

Pedrosa finished second in the 2007 MotoGPWorld Championship after snatching the runner-up position from Rossi at the very final round, when the Italian - himself riding with a fractured hand - suffered a technical failure.

Dani, the only rider to have won a race with the 800cc RC212V, plans to return to action next time out at Jerez, in Spain, from February 16-18.