Rossi, Morselli split
After five years together it is reported that Rossi and Morselli separated after the first Sepang test earlier this year. Italian media says that the two had some disagreements in late January, right before the first IRTA test at Sepang, in Malaysia. No new photos of the two together have appeared on social media websites recently, apparently confirming the separation. Sources say Rossi is upset about the breakup.
Aiming for Qatar top-three position
Rossi says he is aiming at a top-three position in Qatar.
Finally we start talking about racing! I’m very glad that a new season begins. Our tests were definitely positive, but the race is another thing…Last season for me began very well. I don’t know if I will be able to repeat that result but I will try to get on the podium for sure. This first race will be really important to understand the real potential of the bikes and the riders.
It will be important to start to work well from the first sessions and get ready and have clear ideas going into the race. I feel ready and motivated and so does the team, so let’s go!
Rossi: ‘Tricked, betrayed’ by Marquez
In an interview with Gazzetta World, Rossi talks more about hsi relationship with Marquez.
After what happened we can no longer have a relationship. However, we must be opponents on the track, for some years I hope, and we have to respect each other. That is important…More than anything I allowed myself to be tricked by Marquez. He really betrayed me. He said he was a fan but those were all lies. I almost believed him and I was ready to have a rivalry with him, giving 100 percent on the track, but those were all lies on his end. At Assen I realised he was only my friend when he beats me.
Referencing an act of on-track revenge by Ayrton Senna in F1:
When Senna raced I didn’t like him. I cheered for Nigel Mansell, and when he joined Ferrari, I cheered for Prost. But I really liked what Senna did at Suzuka in 1990 [when Senna deliberately took both himself and title rival Prost out at Turn 1]. He was ‘worked over’ the year before and then he did what he had to. He showed some balls.
Wants to race cars after MotoGP
Rossi says that after two more years in MotoGP, he may switch to racing cars.
I will take five or six races to decide. But I am pretty convinced I can continue for a couple of years and then maybe Yamaha says something, because I get white hair! But at 39 years old I will be able to run a dozen car races still, make the most fascinating races, the 24 Hours of Le Mans or the Dakar. Although there you have to get up too early!
On this current season:
A year ago I started well but ended badly. I would rather start not so well but be strong until the end.
VR46 tribute
On the 13th anniversary of Sheene’s death, Sheene Movie releases a clip of Rossi dedicating his Australian GP win in 2003 to Sheene.
Rossi: I was ‘screwed’ by Marquez
In an interview with Motosprint, Rossi says he had no choice but to speak out against Marquez after Sepang 2015.
I have thought long and hard on what had happened. I also thought that perhaps it would have been better not to do it, but I had to, because I had realised that I was screwed. It would have been already difficult to beat Lorenzo in a normal situation, but when Marquez went against me, I realised I got screwed. With that press conference, more than trying to intimidate Marquez, I tried to call for the attention of race direction, in order to sort out this thing. We had tried to talk to race direction, but they didn’t listen to us, so I tried this other way. I think they underestimated the problem, because what happened is something no one had expected: I didn’t, and neither did they, so when we told them, they looked at us wondering ‘what’s behind this?’ It could have been avoided by talking together in Malaysia.
While he expects to maintain a working relationship with Lorenzo, Rossi still wonders about Marquez’s tactics.
It was completely clear what his intentions were, with the Valencia race [when Marquez finished second to Lorenzo] being the cherry on top. Anyway… it is not very important, in the sense that our relationship, after what had happened, can never be restored. We’ll have to be only rivals, but I would like us to be able to focus on that, more than on nonsense such as ‘let’s shake hands, let’s not. I prefer doing real things, that’s the way.
Hamilton: Rossi is ‘incredible’
Hamilton declares himself a fan of Rossi:
I really need to try a MotoGP bike because MotoGP is so cool and more exciting to watch I would say and is closer racing. Valentino is incredible and is my favourite as he is for a lot of people. There are also a lot of other great riders and I definitely want to make it to more races this year as I’ve only been to one a season. This year I will try and make it to more and I’m dying to get on the back of one [bike] at least. I just won’t tell my team!
VR46 Academy profile
0 Comments
Cycleworld.com profiles Rossi’s VR46 Academy, where 11 young riders are tought the “Valentino Method,” which combines scientific precision, passion and fun. The school, which is supported by Yamama, has a 1.8 mile dirt-track, which was built based on Rossi’s father’s intuition that training on dirt improves bike control skills. dirt track to improve his skills controlling the bike. The track has left and right turns, and changes of elevation, and there are already plans to make it bigger, build a jump, and possibly open it to the public. Students learn, race, and discuss their day’s results over a “grigliata,” a typical barbecue. Rossi:
The target is to raise young Italian talent and give them an opportunity to shine.
Qatar test Day 3: Third place
After crashing on his out lap, Rossi finishes third in the final day of Qatar testing, improving on his fastest time on the first day by nearly half a second to post a best time of 1‘55.429s, o.5s behind the leader, teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Rossi’s combined times for the three days leaves him fifth overall.
In the end I‘m quite happy. Unfortunately I had another crash in the same corner, but it was a small one and I was able with the team to try everything. In the last hour and a half we improved the setting and I had quite a strong pace and did a good time attack. The lap time is not so bad and more importantly I did a race simulation and I was strong. I think that it will be quite tough, because it seems that from the first test the other bikes improved a lot, but now we are there at their level. I think a lot of riders can be fast for the first Grand Prix, but we are competitive…I think the last five laps of the race will be difficult for everybody, but the bike is good to ride, so we‘re able to keep a good pace
Qatar test Day 2: Fifth place
Rossi comes fifth in testing at Losail, Qatar, with a time of 1m 55.947s. Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales leads with 1m 55.436s.
The second day was OK, I worked a lot and did a lot of laps because we have quite a lot of work to do. In the end my performance was not fantastic in the lap and the position because I‘m a little bit worse compared to yesterday, but in reality we didn‘t do a real time attack because we tried to save some tyres because it‘s important for tomorrow. We don‘t have a lot of tyres, so we’re trying to manage. I think Friday will be very important for trying to understand our potential in a better way and especially for trying to improve the lap time and also for making a long run and try to understand our pace.
Qatar test Day 1: Third place
Rossi’s Qatar MotoGP test gets off to a bad start when he falls on his out lap. He recovers and finishes in third place, 0.442s behind Jorge Lorenzo and 0.014s from Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales.
I started in a bad way, because after ten corners I crashed. I wasn’t very fast, but maybe because I had too much angle and the rear slid. But fortunately it was just a small slide at 70 km/h. It wasn’t a big problem but to start like this wasn’t fantastic… After, we jumped on the other bike and I’m quite satisfied about today because, also here in Qatar, it looks like our bike is competitive. We can be strong and fast and this is the most important thing, because it’s already the third track where the Yamaha is competitive. We also started with a good base set-up, in fact I didn’t work a lot on it. I felt good from the first moment, rode quite fast and I was able to consistently improve my lap times and in the end I’m in the third position, so it was a good day.
Yamaha partners with VR46 Riders Academy
Yamaha agrees to a three-year partnership agreement with the VR46 Riders Academy to become and official partner and bike supplier. Yamaha will supply 26 R-Series and YZ series motorcycles for Academy riders to train and develop their racing skills at the VR46 MotoRanch and also at the Misano road race circuit. Rossi:
The partnership between Yamaha and VR46 makes me very happy and incredibly proud. Through the Academy we have been doing very interesting things for young and talented riders and I believe we couldn‘t have found a better partner than Yamaha to provide our guys everything they need to grow up quickly and improve their performances on track.
Jarvis:
The Academy started as a natural development of Valentino‘s incredible passion for motorcycling and racing when he committed himself to supporting the next generation of riders to develop their talent and skills to become future World Championship racers… This new program will give a unique opportunity for selected talented riders to train and learn from “the Master” and from the full-time VR46 Riders Academy riders during the 2 one-week dedicated training sessions.
Yamaha Aerox ad
Rossi appears in a Yamaha Aerox 125 LC commercial for the Indonesian and other South-Eastern Asian markets.
It’s all about the man behind the bike.
Picks 2015-style bike after second test
After setting the fifth-fastest time on the final test day at Phillip Island, Rossi says he will stick with a Yamaha YZR-M1 based on the 2015 bike, rather than developing the ’16 version.
In the end we only had one good day and that was yesterday, but it’s better than nothing. Today we continued our job for a bit, especially we compared the two different bikes and I think we will use the bike that’s more similar to last year’s model. It was a positive test, especially yesterday, but also today. I feel good with the bike and with the tyres and my pace was not so bad, so I’m quite satisfied.
Phillip Island Day 2: ‘Good from beginning to end’
Rossi improves his performance on the second day of testing, finishing fourth.
Yesterday I did just 7-8 laps, but the first impression was bad and I was a bit worried. But today, with good conditions, already from this morning I was able to go fast and have a good feeling. It is different to ride [with Michelins], but at the same time I like it. It is very funny. This is important. It was a good day from beginning to end. I always stayed [near the top]. At the end I am fourth, but the distance from first position is very close and also I didn’t put new tyres at the end. We will see tomorrow if we can improve. Also the good thing is that we always made progress, step-by-step. We improved quite a lot.
Rossi also says that he is getting used to the balance of his Michelin tires.
For me the front is still a little bit worse compared to Bridgestone but the rear is better. So on balance it is very similar.
37th birthday tribute
0 0 Mark Devlin Mark Devlin2016-02-18 20:25:402016-02-18 20:25:4037th birthday tribute
Will stay in MotoGP for two more years or none
Rossi says he will continue in MotoGP until the end of 2018 if he elects to race beyond the end of this season.
At the end of 2016 my contract will expire. So I will have to decide whether to continue for another two seasons or not. If I continue, it will be for two seasons as all the contracts are for two years. It will be like 2014 when I said I will look at it after the first few races. You have to look at the first five or six races then start thinking.
Marquez brothers cancel VR46 merchandise deal
The company in charge of image rights for Marc and Alex Marquez confirms their merchandise will no longer be produced and distributed by Rossi’s VR46 Racing Apparel company. The Marquez brothers are tipped to move their merchandising to Gruppo Pritelli.
AC Management, company in charge of managing the image rights of the riders Marc Márquez and Alex Márquez, informs that they have agreed with the Company VR46 Racing Apparel, S.r.l. to terminate the license agreements previously in force and under which the latter was in charge of the exploitation of both riders’ merchandising. Both parties appreciate services rendered while the agreement was in force and wish each other success in future endeavors.
Sepang testing: May ditch 2016 Yamaha M1
Rossi thinks the 2016 MotoGP YZR-M1 Yamaha’s setup is now too radical for the Michelin tyres which have improved greatly since the last test at Valencia, preferring a version closer to his 2015 setup. Rossi also has a standard 2015 bike to ride.
One bike is the 2015 and I make some lap for the feeling. And after we have two bike, one more similar to the 2015 and one more modified. Today I concentrate on the bike more similar to the 2015 because of time because we have to work on electronic especially. I try the other one one time and the feeling was not so bad but at this moment I don’t know if it is better. The Michelin has improved already and that bike was for the old Michelin so I don’t know now if we need that bike or not.
