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Reading Valentino Rossi’s mind at the moment will be an interesting thing to do.
The seven-time MotoGP champion is back at Yamaha, a team with whom he won four premier class titles between 2004 and 2010. More importantly, he is back in the team where his team mate is the same guy who was largely responsible for his move to Ducati in 2011.
Story goes that Jorge Lorenzo had just made his move to Yamaha in 2008. His two podiums and a win in the first three races with the Japanese outfit were enough to ignite one of the most fierce and competitive rivalries in recent times. After all, one competitor any racer would want to beat is the teammate, given that the machines are the same, team is the same, funding is the same.
So much was the tension that Yamaha had two competing teams running out of the same garage with no sharing of data between the two cliques.
Eventually, Rossi gave an ultimatum to Yamaha to either have him in the team or Lorenzo. The move backfired. Yamaha stuck with Lorenzo and Rossi chose Ducati in a big-money move for two years starting 2011 and 2012.
With not-so-impressive results in Ducati, Rossi is back at Yamaha. And Lorenzo is still around. Even the M1 is now more in tune with Spaniard’s style of riding, which Rossi himself admitted is different to his.
Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder for MotoGP, and Qatar Motor and Motorcycling chief Nasser Khalif al-Attiyah pose at the celebrations to mark the Qatar MotoGP’s 10th anniversary at St. Regis Hotel yesterday.
“But M1 is an easy bike to ride,” the Italian said at a press conference at the Losail International Circuit ahead of the season-opener in Qatar.“Yes, it’s true that our styles of riding are different but given the ease M1 gives, I would only require minor adjustments.”
This year, Qatar celebrates the tenth anniversary of the MotoGP event. Rossi has won at Losail thrice – in 2005, 2006 and 2010 – while finishing second in 2007 and 2009.
Lorenzo, on the other hand, has an impressive record at the Qatar race having finished on the podium in all nine starts in Qatar across GP classes. In 2012, he won his first and the only race in Qatar so far.
“Yes, it is always very important to start a new season in the best way possible. It gives you confidence for the season and the next races,”Lorenzo said yesterday. “But podium finishes and wins in the previous years and races do not give you any advantage. But the competition will be very strong. Marc (Marquez) has come from Moto2 and Vale is again in the Yamaha team. He is faster. We are four or five riders that are favourites for the title. But there are three of four others that can also stay with us.”
Lorenzo added that with Rossi back in Yamaha and looking fast, it would only be an inspiration for him to do better.
Meanwhile, speaking of his task ahead, Rossi said, “I’m happy about my performance in the winter tests, as I was quite strong in Sepang and Jerez; I had some problems in Austin. But for sure the races are quite different from the tests. I like to ride the M1, I’m quite fast, but the level is very high. It will be a great motivation trying to raise my level and speed and fight for the podium.”
He added: “I would like to get on the podium: that’s my goal. After the testing I know I can be competitive in some tracks but also that I will have some problems at other tracks. The most important thing is that now I have a good feeling when I ride my M1 and this will help me at all tracks, including Qatar.
“Every year you get a little bit nervous at the beginning of the season. It’s normal to feel like that; it’s crucial to get some good points and not to make mistakes. I can’t wait to start this 2013 season.”