Valentino Rossi chases his fourth
consecutive victory this weekend as the MotoGP World
Championship sets sail across the Mediterranean to
Barcelona, following the Italian’s epic seventh Mugello
win on Sunday. The Circuit de Catalunya is another happy
hunting ground for Rossi, who has graced the top step of
the podium there on no fewer than eight occasions in all
classes, whilst fellow Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo
will hope for plenty of local backing as he targets a
return to podium form in the seventh round of the
season.
Rossi’s magical home victory has extended his series
lead to 12 points over Spain’s Dani Pedrosa and, as the
Bridgestone rider senses a serious opportunity to
recover his crown, the five-time former MotoGP World
Champion will look to consolidate that cushion at a
circuit where he remains the only rider to have taken
victory in all three Grand Prix classes. Rossi went from
a record-setting pole position to second place at
Catalunya last year but is determined to return to the
form he showed there when dominating for the previous
three seasons.
Michelin-shod Jorge Lorenzo, who lived in Barcelona for
much of his early career and hails from Mallorca – just
a short ferry ride from the city - also started from
pole there last year with a new lap record in the 250cc
class, when he qualified over a second clear of his
nearest rival. The 21-year-old took the fifth victory of
his second title-winning season in that race and after
escaping further injury when he crashed out at Mugello
on Sunday he would like nothing more than to consolidate
his MotoGP progress with a podium revisit.
Like Mugello, the Circuit de Catalunya features a main
straight that is amongst the longest in the world. The
rest of the track is characterised by long radius,
medium and high-speed sweepers, with two tight left-hand
hairpins thrown into the mix. This variation combined
with regular changes in camber makes the circuit
particularly demanding on chassis balance and means that
front-end feel is a key concern for every rider.
Valentino Rossi
"Like I said on Sunday, I really needed to go to sleep
for some days after my win in Mugello, but instead we
have to keep going to Barcelona! Honestly I would prefer
that these two races weren’t back to back because they
are two of my favourite tracks and I would prefer to be
able to focus on them both separately, but anyway our
motivation is high and I am sure we will have all
recovered by Friday morning. Mugello was a fantastic
victory and it’s a great feeling to have won three races
in a row this season, only one less than we won in the
whole of last season! Last year I had a great fight with
Stoner at Catalunya but I couldn’t quite beat him,
however this year our bike and tyres are working
brilliantly and so I am confident that we will be able
to fight be very motivated and hard to beat. Anyway I
love racing in Spain and I always have a lot of fans
there so I am looking forward to another good weekend."
Jorge Lorenzo
"I'm quite lucky because after the crash at Mugello
there's no time to dwell on it. We're straight back to
business this week and on Friday I'll be back on the
bike. I'm also going there in good spirits because it's
my home Grand Prix and I'm looking forward to making my
MotoGP debut there. Finally yesterday we found what the
problem had been over the past two races and now it's
just a case of working to solve it. Montmeló is a
circuit I like, for its corners and its long straight,
as well as for all the fans who fill the grandstands
year after year."
Davide Brivio
"Barcelona last year was a fantastic race between
Valentino and Casey Stoner, but unfortunately we
finished second! This year our first aim is to fight
like that again and the second target is to arrive at
the finish in front. With this race coming so soon after
Mugello we're still on a high after our exciting win
there and now we must try to do the same again in Spain.
Our rider, our bike and our tyres are working very well
together and so I hope we can remain concentrated and
focused and try to make the most of another of
Valentino's favourite tracks."
Daniele Romagnoli
"This is a home Grand Prix for Jorge and we’re confident
that the work we did at Mugello can be very useful there
and for the other races coming up. We know why he wasn’t
so competitive on Sunday and at Barcelona we’ll try a
different set-up, concentrating on the traction control
setting. We’re sure that the fans will help to make him
feel at home and give him even more motivation to
succeed this weekend. Physically he is growing stronger
with each passing day and thankfully he escaped without
any setbacks to his ankles in his crash at Mugello so we
think he’ll be in good shape again in Barcelona. I
believe we can be competitive in the way Yamaha showed
at Mugello."
