NO REST FOR FIAT YAMAHA TEAM AS TITLE CHALLENGE HEADS TO
ASSEN
After a seventh podium in as many races for Valentino Rossi
at Donington Park on Sunday, the Fiat Yamaha team take their
title challenge straight to Assen this week for the second
Grand Prix in just six days. For 78 years the Dutch TT has
been held on the final Saturday in June and despite the quick
turnaround this year the tradition will be upheld, as the
MotoGP World Championship paddock packs up and races against
the clock across the North Sea from England to Holland.
It is a demanding but pleasurable trip for Rossi, who travels
from one of his favourite and most successful circuits to
a legendary venue where he has celebrated victory on six occasions
– including four of the last six races there in the
premier-class. The Italian arrives at the ninth round of the
season in great form, with an 11-point lead in the championship
over Dani Pedrosa and having not missed the podium since the
opening round of the season in Qatar and not finishing outside
the top two since round three in Portugal.
Rossi’s rookie Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo
has dropped to fourth overall after a stressful run of races
but the youngster remains in the championship hunt, 58 points
off the summit and with conviction and courage back on his
side after a confidence-inspiring ride to sixth place at Donington
Park, having started from 17th on the grid. A crash-strewn
few weeks are now a distant memory for the youngster, who
was back to his best in Great Britain and still has ten rounds
left to enjoy and entertain before the end of the season.
One of the most technically and physically demanding circuits
on the calendar for the MotoGP riders, Assen has barely a
straight piece of tarmac in sight. Handling is a major focal
point due to high-speed chicanes and dramatic camber changes
– the latter, in some places, resembling the profile
of the public roads that the original circuit was based around
– features that have traditionally favoured the nimble
YZR-M1. Last year Rossi took a comfortable victory by 1.909
seconds over Casey Stoner in one of the highlights of his
season after starting 11th, whilst Lorenzo also has a strong
record there, having won the 250cc race for the past two seasons
to add to a 125cc win in 2004.
Valentino Rossi
“AIMING FOR THE TOP STEP”
“I’m really glad that we’re going straight
on to Assen, which is another of my favourite circuits. Donington
was good and we took important points and extended our championship
lead but it was still a bit disappointing not to be able to
fight at the front with Stoner and I am happy that I only
have to wait a few days to try to turn this around! Last year’s
race in Assen was magic, the best of the year, and I would
like to repeat that victory again this year. Of course this
time I would prefer to start from the front row instead of
the fourth, even if making all those overtakes last year was
great, great fun! I still miss the ‘old’ Assen
but it’s still a fantastic track and the atmosphere
is very special, plus our M1 usually works very well there
so I’m looking forward to another exciting weekend.
Once again Donington showed how strong our rivals are, so
we can’t rest even for a moment and we have to be on
our best form from Friday morning if we want to achieve our
aim of getting back to the top of the podium.”
jorge Lorenzo
“HOPING FOR SOME FUN!”
“Thinking about Sunday’s race is still giving
me a lot of pleasure and it makes me feel much more confident
about riding than I felt this time one week ago! I hope, after
the good result in the UK, that the bad times of the recent
weeks are now just a memory and in fact I won’t be thinking
about them at all anymore, only about the rest of the season.
I had a lot of fun on Sunday, which I wasn’t necessarily
expecting, and this has helped me to move on and look forward
to the next races. Assen is one of my favourite tracks, maybe
my best of all. Last year I won there and I hope I can have
another good result this year, although I know I still have
to take things gently and not take too many risks. I’m
really looking forward to riding a MotoGP bike there; I think
it will be great fun!”
Davide Brivio
“HALF-WAY THROUGH”
“So now we arrive at the half-way point of the championship
in Assen, and I think we can be pleased with our performance
so far. We’re leading the championship and our motivation
is very strong, but there is no time to rest at the moment.
Our primary aim is to be on the podium every round and we
did this again in Donington, where we took some important
points and extended our lead over Pedrosa, but we really want
to be fighting for the win and so we will be trying to make
up for this in Assen. Our bike has traditionally been very
good in Assen, both on the old and the new circuits, and we
hope that we will be in the best shape from the start this
week.”
Daniele Romagnoli
“ASSEN IS A TEMPLE”
“The aim at Donington was to get Jorge’s feeling
back with the bike and he did that, setting some very good
laps towards the end of the race, so whilst there is still
no pressure on him to get results I think we have a good chance
of success at Assen. For sure he took practice much more carefully
at Donington, putting long runs together and avoiding taking
risks - especially in the early part of the session when the
setting was not perfect. A big part of his job this year is
to learn, but unfortunately some lessons are more painful
than others! Despite the changes to the track in recent years
Assen is still a temple for motorcycle racing and we always
look forward to competing there. It is a good track for Jorge‘s
riding style, as we have seen in the past, and it is also
good for Yamaha so I think we can be very competitive.”
|
