Valentino Rossi isn’t getting misty eyed over the possibility of winning this year’s MotoGP title.
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Movistar Yamaha’s Rossi, who now heads the standings with 179 points and has never lost a premier class title when he was leading after nine races, was the first to address the world’s media. It’s a great season because there are a lot of riders that are very fast, so the level is so high.
“I speak with Hamilton when he comes to some MotoGP races and he always says to me he wants to come and try, also to my ranch”, said the Italian. “At one point I thought maybe it is my riding style that has changed”. Jorge and Marc are very strong and very fast in all the tracks.
“Every weekend is a story, so we have to try to do the maximum”.
Rossi leads the standings at the halfway stage of the season, 13 points ahead of his Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo with Honda rider Marquez 65 points back, fourth in the standings behind Ducati’s Andrea Iannone.
“I think he is able to win a lot of races in a row as he demonstrated last year”, Lorenzo said.
But the two-time defending MotoGP champion is 65 points behind Rossi at the midpoint of the campaign.
Given everything he has gone through, would this year’s title be his most important? It has a lot of braking points and so it’s not my favourite.
F1’s reigning world champion told the Mirror newspaper recently: “When my dad bought me my first go-kart I actually wanted a motorbike. I will try my best with my team”. With his MotoGP win at IMS last year, Marquez tied Australian legend Mick Doohan for the most consecutive wins (10) in a season in the modern era. He followed this up with a win at Sachsenring before MotoGP went on summer break. “I know it’s not easy and it’s a big difference but of course we will try to focus like the last two races and try to push at the limit and see what happens”.
Marquez suffered DNFs in three of the first seven races of the season, while Rossi has finished on the podium in all nine starts.
The session also saw strong performances from British riders Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith of CWM LCR Honda and Monster Yamaha Tech3 respectively.
One of the big stories of during the summer break was the news that Stefan Bradl had joined the Factory Aprilia Racing Team Gresini. I was still recovering from the scaphoid so I was sitting on the computer a lot, answering emails and waiting for replies. “I’m really pleased Aprilia are giving me this chance to finish the season and help develop it”, Bradl says.
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Qualifying has concluded at the Indianapolis MotoGP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
