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46 | Valentino Rossi |
Valentino Rossi rounded off testing in the best possible way on Friday as the World Champion beat his pole position record on the final day of pre-season testing in Malaysia. The Fiat Yamaha rider's best effort of 2:00.271 confirmed that the Italian has led all testing days at which he had taken part this winter.
"I'm really happy to have beaten my pole record, it's a good feeling to be this fast in testing," he commented later. "I did this with an old tyre but we also got the chance to try a very good new tyre from Bridgestone today, which I hope we will use from the first race.
"Our bike is in great shape; we need to do a bit more work on the electronics but in general everything is better, especially the rear grip and the engine. Yamaha have been very clever to develop this new bike whilst keeping the best parts of the old one, I'm very happy about it.
"It was good to get the chance to try the Japanese test bike, hopefully the feedback I gave them will help us in the future. Now we go to Qatar and then we will see our level because it is not one of mine or Yamaha's best tracks! But we're in great shape and this is very important at this stage of the season. I'm really looking forward to it."
World Champion Valentino Rossi continued to dominate testing in Malaysia as the final day of pre-season running came to a close at Sepang on Friday. The Yamaha rider's best effort saw him eclipse his pole position record with a leading lap time of 2:00.271, finishing ahead of fellow Champions Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.
The Rizla Suzuki team tested their new GSV-R engine for the first time at this test and veteran Loris Capirossi made progressive improvements across the two days to post a 2'01.320 on Friday, making him the sixth quickest of the two days. He tested a range of other aspects on the bike first tried three weeks earlier and rode just over 100 laps this time out.
Repsol Honda riders Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa were seventh and eighth fastest respectively on their RC212V machines. Dovizioso enjoyed a productive two days and on the second went round in 2'01.439, whilst Pedrosa was 0.039s behind. The Spaniard experienced a fall on Thursday and was uninjured, returning to the track later in the day and working throughout Friday as well.
Rookie Hiroshi Aoyama made impressive strides throughout the two days, with the Interwetten Honda MotoGP rider ninth in the timings with a 2'01.692 set on Friday as he felt vast improvements on the RC212V. He was followed by fellow MotoGP debutant Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) who set a best time of 2'01.732, despite having hurt his arm the previous day in a slide.
Randy de Puniet of the LCR Honda team was the final rider to break the 2'02" mark with his 2'01.980, and was followed on the timesheet by Mika Kallio who completed the highest number of laps across the two days (just over 140).
Marco Melandri of the San Carlo Honda Gresini team continued to adapt to the RC212V, and rookies Hector Barbera (Paginas Amarillas Ducati), and Aleix Espargaro (Pramac Racing) - whose fall on Thursday had no ill effects - were all present as they amassed laps on their respective Desmosedici machines.
Another MotoGP debutant for this season, Marco Simoncelli of San Carlo Honda Gresini, suffered a crash early on Friday morning. The Italian had completed just two laps when he fell, cutting short his day's work, and was taken to hospital as a precaution. Later in the day Simoncelli confirmed he was feeling better.
Valentino Rossi has kept up his rapid pace by setting the fastest lap time once again as testing continued in Malaysia on Thursday. The World Champion's Yamaha led the way from 2007 title winner Casey Stoner, whose Ducati finished one and a half tenths off the Italian's pace.
Having posted the best two lap times at Sepang's earlier February test, Rossi maintained his 100 percent record for the pre-season period of 2010 thus far as the Fiat Yamaha squad continued work with new brake callipers from Brembo as Ducati ran new swingarms on its Desmosedici GP10.
With Rossi's best effort being 2:01.068, Dovizioso, Capirossi and World Superbike Champion Ben Spies confirmed that five different makes of bike made the top five places - in Dovizioso's case, a new engine was powering the Italian on the Honda. The second Tech3 contender, Colin Edwards, was just behind his team-mate as Dani Pedrosa endured a difficult day.
Having fallen at Turn 9 shortly after half past one, the Spaniard later boosted his lap tally by a further 21 - to a total of 47 for the day - although it was Kallio's Pramac which circulated most times, 76 in all, on his way to the eighth best slot whilst experimenting with various front forks. Apart from Pedrosa, fellow Spanish rider Bautista was also in the wars after coming off his Suzuki shortly after noon.
Marco Melandri and Nicky Hayden completed the top ten for Gresini and Ducati respectively.
The final day of pre-season testing will commence at Sepang on Friday morning
Motorsport names Jenson Button, Ross Brawn and Valentino Rossi have all been selected as nominees ahead of this year's prestigious Laureus World Sports awards ceremony. The former Brawn GP colleagues are up for gongs in the Breakthrough and Team of the Year prizes, respectfully, with the Italian listed for the main honour.
With Brawn GP having risen from the ashes of the ex Honda Formula 1 squad in 2009, Jenson Button claimed a maiden world title in his tenth season as Team Principal Ross guided an outfit carrying his own name to both championship crowns.
Button is up against cycling's Mark Cavendish, diving's Tom Daley, tennis' Juan Martin del Potro, golf's Ji Yai Shin and football's VFL Wolfsburg team. Should Button claim the trophy, the Englishman would be the second consecutive F1 Champion to do so after new team-mate Lewis Hamilton won the prize last year.
Brawn will win should he beat the likes of the mighty FC Barcelona football team, German female football team LA Lakers, the New York Yankees baseball squad and the South African nation rugby team.
In the main World Sportsman of the Year category, 9-time motorcycle Champion Rossi is up against the force of Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, world number 1 tennis seed Roger Federer and Barcelona FC striker Lionel Messi.
F1 Champion Michael Schumacher was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2002 and 2004.
The Yamaha team enjoyed a positive commencing of proceedings in Malaysia as pre-season testing begins this week. With Jorge Lorenzo fifth on Thursday's final timesheets, World Champion team-mate Valentino Rossi led the field on a best lap time of 2:01.411.
Following the non-timed session of Wednesday for test riders only, Yamaha became the first team to lead the way this season as Rossi edged out fellow Champion Casey Stoner by almost half a second.
"Today was very important because this year we have just six days of testing in which to set up the bike, so we cannot waste any time," Italian Rossi explained. "This first day was very positive; we tried the new bike for 2010 with a different chassis and a new engine, which can do more kilometres, and it's quite fast.
"Yamaha has worked very well over the winter. Now we need to spend time on setting some electronics and other things. This is only the start but it seems we're already in good shape."
World Champion Valentino Rossi topped the Thursday timesheets as the race riders took to the track at Sepang for the first time this week. After the testers had circulated the Malaysian track on Wednesday, the Italian led the way from fellow Champion Casey Stoner's Ducati and Colin Edwards' Tech3 Yamaha.
With Wednesday's running having been for setup work only, with no official lap times collected, Rossi's Yamaha set the pace on Thursday with a 2:01.411 lap, just under half a second up on Stoner as Edwards and Loris Capirossi confirmed four different teams in the top four places.
Also at Sepang on Thursday, Yamaha unveiled its 2010 livery
With Capirossi having been the last man to make an on-track appearance, the veteran is likely to be relieved with fourth following his pre-season worries for Suzuki - a new engine will be available for Sepang's next test at the end of the month.
Jorge Lorenzo's second Yamaha made the top five as the works Hondas of Dovizioso and Pedrosa sandwiched the second Ducati of Nicky Hayden. In Honda's case, improved engines and electronics were being tested. Satellite riders Mika Kallio and newcomer Hector Barbera completed the top ten for the Pramac and Aspar teams, respectively.
World Superbike Champion Ben Spies managed a best effort of 2:03.142, which placed him 12th, with other rookies Alvaro Bautista and Marco Simoncelli - 250cc (now Moto2) rivals of last year - running in tandem in 14th and 15th. The session reached a premature end when rain began to fall at 4:30pm local time.
The final day of this week's 3-day Sepang test will continue on Friday
On Thursday morning the Fiat Yamaha team unveiled its new livery. In the pit lane at Sepang, scene of this week's test session, World Champion Valentino Rossi and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo presented the team's new bikes in front of the media.
The Yamaha race riders begin their testing duties in Malaysia on Thursday and will finish on Friday, all preperation for the opening night race in Qatar on 11 April.
"2009 was the most successful year for Yamaha's racing activities for many years," said team Managing Director Lin Jarvis, speaking at the launch. "It will be difficult to follow such a performance but we are intending to try! We are lucky to have the same fantastic rider line-up with Valentino and Jorge and are looking forward to getting started with our work on-track.
"Of course, Yamaha has not been able to escape the global economic situation but MotoGP forms a key part of the company's recovery plan. It is a very important brand image tool and MotoGP will remain a flag-waving activity for Yamaha worldwide.
"We are extremely fortunate to have retained all of our existing loyal sponsors and even to have added a few more to the team. Our title sponsor, Fiat, is with us for a fourth year and Petronas, Packard Bell and Yamalube will continue as major sponsors of the team. We have two new sponsors in the form of Yamaha Indonesia, who join us with the aim of promoting their activities in Indonesia, the most important market for Yamaha at the moment, and Iveco. We have also retained all of our existing technical sponsors and suppliers."
Valentino Rossi has said once again that he is aiming to remain with the Yamaha team as the World Champion begins the final year of his current contract. Speculation has circulated that the Italian is considering a switch to Ducati at the end of the year.
With Ducati's Casey Stoner having said just under a fortnight ago that he hopes to remain with Ducati in the future, Rossi has also explained that switching teams is not part of his current game plan.
"I am very sell situated at Yamaha and obviously that is my first choice," Rossi told Motorcycle News. "In any case, it is a little embarrassing to talk about where all the riders will be for 2011 when we haven't even started the 2010 season, so I don't know what is happening.
"I think some time in June or July I will know. In 2008 I signed in June so this year will be more or less the same time - or perhaps things could still be open until later in the summer; with all the contracts of the top four riders to end this year, this matter will be constantly on the table all season.
"It's a strange coincidence that the four fastest riders will finish their contracts at the same time - I imagine that each will do what they think is the best for themselves. As for my future contract, it will be Yamaha with whom I will talk first about this."
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo believes reigning MotoGP star Valentino Rossi would not only be competitive in F1 - but a potential world champion.
The Italian superstar once again set an impressive pace during his latest Ferrari F1 test, which was labeled as a reward for winning his ninth two-wheeled title.
During the two-day test, aboard a two-year-old Ferrari F2008 at the Circuit de Catalunya, Rossi set a best lap time two tenths of a second shy of the lap record, set by former Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, and only a tenth away from the Finn's 2008 Spanish Grand Prix pole position time.
It marked the latest in a series of high-profile flirtations with F1 but Rossi, whose Yamaha MotoGP contract expires at the end of this year, continues to play down talk of an F1 switch - saying that he would be too old.
However, according to Reuters, di Montezemolo would not only be prepared to place Rossi in a third Ferrari F1 car, should the rules be changed, but 'did not rule out Rossi racing in one of their two cars currently occupied by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa'.
"Valentino is a potential champion in Formula One," Reuters quotes di Montezemolo as saying.
Rossi is 30-years-old, which is eleven years younger than former Ferrari world champion, and 2010 F1 returnee, Michael Schumacher.
John Surtees is presently the only person to have world championships in both two and four-wheeled grand prix racing.
Valentino Rossi leads an entry list that includes six full-time rookies and no Kawasakis for the first time in eight years.
The 2010 MotoGP entry list has been officially unveiled with 17 riders confirmed as full-time participants, one less than the total at the start of the 2009 season.
No surprises adorn the list, with eight factory-backed riders being flanked by a further nine satellite entrants, but while two new teams ? Interwetten Honda and Aspar Ducati ? will make their debuts in 2010, we have also lost Hayate Racing, Scot Honda and Grupo Francisco Hernando Ducati.
It means there will be one less rider on the grid in Qatar than there was at the opener in 2009, although there is hope that newcomers FB Corse and Inmotec ? so far absent from the list ? will make an appearance at some stage.
Meanwhile, there are no immediate sponsor changes, although Aspar Ducati and LCR Honda are currently without a title backer.
Also, several riders will change numbers in 2010, most notably Dani Pedrosa, who returns to #26 having held #3 for some years, while Ben Spies, who ran the #19 in World Superbikes has settled for #11 after seemingly losing out to Alvaro Bautista.
Marco Melandri is listed as #24 but Gresini Honda has told motomatters.com that this is a typo and that Melandri will keep his usual #33.
In all, six rookies will compete in their first full season this year ? Spies, Bautista, Marco Simoncelli, Hiroshi Aoyama, Hector Barbera and Aleix Espargaro. Also, there will no Kawasaki on the grid since it first entered in 2002.
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team
5. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Intrerwetten-Honda MotoGP
11. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
14. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP
19. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
24. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini
26. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team
27. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team
36. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing Team
40. Hector Barbera ESP Aspar MotoGP Team
41. Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing Team
46. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team
58. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini
65. Loreis Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
69. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboto Team
99. Jorge Lorenzo ITA Fiat Yamaha Team
Valentino Rossi has told the New York Times he is committed to MotoGP despite links with Ferrari and Formula 1.
This week, Ferrari confirmed reigning MotoGP world champion Rossi would drive their F2008 car later this month but he said he does not see his future in F1.
"When I finish with bikes, I might want to see some seasons in rallying," said the 30-year-old, who has one year left on his contract with the Yamaha team.
"F1 would've been easier but when I finish MotoGP, I'll be too old for F1."
On Wednesday, Ferrari team chairman Luca di Montezemolo confirmed that Rossi would be driving one of their cars in Barcelona, as a reward for winning his ninth world title last season.
He also mentioned the prospect of running a third Ferrari in F1, and when asked if it might be driven by Rossi, he said "Never say never".
"There has been a lot discussed about a third car and this could be a hypothesis of an interesting improvement for the whole world of F1, even more if as a result Rossi had the possibility to race in our sport."
But the Yamaha rider's comments seem to rule out the possibility of anything long-term happening with Ferrari.
"There are not many changes in a man's body between 22 and 34 so I still have some time left," he said.
"I would consider shifting to cars, probably rallying, after that before I finally decide to take it easy."
Rossi has competed in several rally events in the past, most recently in November when he finished second in the Monza Rally.
World champion Valentino Rossi has hinted he will leave Yamaha if they do not drop Jorge Lorenzo in 2011.
Italian Rossi, who won his ninth world crown this year, has also revealed he could switch allegiance to Ducati.
Lorenzo recently signed a new one-year deal with the Japanese firm but Rossi does not think there is room for the two riders in the same team.
"Yamaha have to decide between me and Jorge for 2011," Rossi told BBC Two. "I have a great option to join Ducati."
The pair have fought some incredible battles on the track this season, with the 30-year-old Rossi coming out on top and clinching the title with one race of the season to spare, while Lorenzo, 22, as runner-up.
But Lorenzo has said that he has not always felt appreciated at Yamaha and revealed he had received offers from other manufacturers before signing his new deal.
Now Rossi, who signed a two-year deal with Yamaha in August 2008, has made it clear he could make a switch.
"I am not sure 100% if I will stay with Yamaha," said Rossi. "It depends on what happens next year. It depends on my performance and the fight with Jorge Lorenzo and the decision of Yamaha for 2011.
"I could change bike, ride for Ducati and try to win the world championship with an Italian bike. That would be a great motivation.
"But I prefer at this moment to stay with Yamaha because the love between me and Yamaha, our relationship, is something special.
"To change bike would feel unfaithful. So for Yamaha it is important that I finish my career with them and for me it is also important. "
Not all the greatest drivers hail from four wheels. Valentino Rossi prefers two, and there's no wonder as to why:
Seven world championships this decade -- six MotoGP titles since the inception of the class in 2002, and a 500cc title in 2001 (the premier class at the time).
Rossi wrapped up this year's world championship title before the season finale. In this decade, Rossi has won nearly half the races (about 46 percent) in the toughest motorcycle series on the planet. He's won at least half the races in six seasons.
Rossi's nearly 80 wins this decade are an all-time record, not just a single-decade record. His seven titles since 2000 are also second most in series history, one behind the all-time career mark.
Keep in mind that this series has been around as long as Formula One and NASCAR.
Seven world championships this decade: Six MotoGP titles since the inception of the class in 2002, and a 500cc title in 2001
Won half or more of the races in six seasons
His nearly 80 wins this decade are an all-time record
His seven titles since 2000 are second most in series history
Casey Stoner reckons Italian rival and nine-times world champion Valentino Rossi will be his main adversary as the Aussie sets his sights on regaining the MotoGP crown in 2010.
Speaking at the launch of Ducati's 2010 MotoGP squad at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort in Italy this morning, the 24-year-old singled out Rossi as the man to beat given the Fiat Yamaha star's recent domination of the premier class.
Since Stoner crushed Rossi to win the inaugural 800cc title in 2007, Rossi has hit back in stunning fashion to win the '08 and '09 title race.
And looking ahead to the 2010 campaign, which kicks off under the spectacular Qatar floodlights on April 11, Stoner said: "Obviously Valentino is the one to beat because he's won the championship for the last two years in a row now.
"Valentino has been there for a long time now. He once was the young gun and now he's the old hand but we will have to try and take him down next year. Valentino is a fantastic rider and he's been very consistent and he doesn't make many mistakes.
"We've seen a lot more from him recently when he's been under pressure a bit more but I don't know if there is anything other riders would like to be more like him.
"I enjoy being myself on the bike and whether I win championships or not, I'm doing my best and that's all I want to do."
Stoner also refused to rule out the big threat likely to be posed by confident Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, who is set for his third season on board Yamaha's dominant factory YZR-M1 machine.
"Both have their strong points because sometimes Valentino can be very fast and strong during a weekend but in a race struggle a little bit.
"But other times you think he is struggling and he will pull it out for the race and do very well. Jorge sometimes is a little easier to understand.
"If things aren't going well for him then he normally doesn't improve for the race. But normally he is very strong throughout the weekend and that continues for the race.
"They both have different strong points and different ways of approaching the weekend," added Stoner, who failed to mount a serious title assault in 2009 after an illness ravaged campaign.
Stoner is now fully recovered from the fatigue issues that severely blunted his challenge last season and will be out on track on the new GP10 machine when winter testing resumes in Sepang on February 4.