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| Valentino Rossi gestures as MotoGP riders pose for a group picture at Losail International Circuit yesterday. Picture: Noushad Thekkayil |
The 26-year-old, who has been in exceptional form in pre-season testing on his Honda, has won here four times (2011, 2009, 2008, 2007) and is still the man to beat in the season’s first race on Sunday.
However, Stoner is not taking things lightly. “I don’t ever expect to have another season like the one we had last year. After watching Jorge (Lorenzo’s) season in 2010, there was no way I thought anyone could replicate that, winning so many races and just the consistency he kept throwing out, but we managed to have an amazing season last year,” said the Repsol Honda rider who recently become the father of a baby girl.
“In general I’ve been happy and the performance in pre-season testing has been good,” added Stoner, who has won 40 Grands Prix in all, 33 of those at MotoGP level.
Meanwhile, after finishing second in 2011 Lorenzo is confident he can go one step further this season on his new 1000cc YZR-M1.
“The tests were very good because we found that the 1000cc has great potential and is very fast. We are more prepared than last year, it was difficult for us then because I was at more than 100% to keep near Casey and Dani (Pedrosa).
“This year it seems we are closer but I am not 100% confident, I must wait to see what happens in the first few races. The bikes are different from the 800cc but it is easy to exit the slow corners,” said Lorenzo, who missed the last three races of the 2011 season with a hand injury.
Italian ace Valentino Rossi, is also keen to put behind him the disappointment of the last two seasons.
“It’s so important to work as much as possible in the tests and we have had some ups and downs. We still have some work to do because the bike changed a lot compared to last year, but in the races it is different; you can understand the potential of the bike and you try to do the maximum to go fast and try to fight with the other guys, so I think we are ready,” said the 33-year-old nine-time motorcycling champion, seven coming in the premier class.
One of the main reasons why Rossi struggled was due to Ducati’s inability to provide him with a bike that could test the riders upfront. And it would be interesting to see how the Italian ace makes the most of his new bike.
“The bike has changed a lot, it has a different feeling and there are areas we have to look. Sometimes we don’t know the way to follow. All we know is that we have to test a lot. We can’t wait for the race to start,” added Rossi, has wona total of 103 Grand Prix in all categories.
NGM Mobile Forward Racing team will be banking on the Colin Edwards experience to deliver the goods. The 38-year-old veteran will be competing in his 10th successive year in MotoGP but is well aware that he has his task cut out.
“It’s not going to be easy. We have limitations and some fundamental issues we need to solve and sort out, but it’s going good. Everything we do to the bike seems to make it that little bit better. We’re showing up with no gearing, suspension or data so we’re kind of starting from scratch,” said Edwards. For 2011 Moto2 World Champion Stefan Bradl these are untested waters but entire Germany will be keen to see if their ace rider has it in him to match the best in the business. Bradl, though is raring to go.
“I’m really excited and really looking forward to the weekend, especially the first race as it will be something different to the tests! I think I’m ready. We had some not bad tests, everything was new for me so it was tough at the first test in Sepang, but after all I think we weren’t making too many mistakes which is a good thing .