Rossi/Marquez clash data will not be released
FIM and Honda Racing say that data from the Rossi/Marquez clash at Sepang will not be released. The data relates to claims by Honda that Rossi kicked Marquez, causing the Spaniard to fall. FIM President Ippolito:
In MotoGP, the dispute was brought before the CAS and the case is now closed. It is true that at the end of the season the polemics around the Rossi-Marquez case swelled to unprecedented levels. For that reason, we asked all the people involved, including the teams, to refrain from engaging in controversy about what happened in Sepang.During the last competition in Valencia, team Honda informed us that they had all the telemetry relating to the incident. Now the data are in our hands, and Honda and the FIM have decided together not to release them so as not to fuel further polemics.
Rossi, Lorenzo unveil 2016 Yamaha MotoGP colors
Yamaha Racing release images of Rossi and Lorenzo in new team livery. The design is almost identical to last season (barring a few stickers), with 2016 the third year of title sponsorship by Movistar.
‘2015 wasn’t my last chance’
In an interview with Autosport, Rossi is asked about his age:
If you check the history of human beings, between 36 and 37 is not a big difference. Next year I can go more or else at the same pace. But it depends a lot on the motivation, the match of the Yamaha with the Michelins, our work and everything else. Next year will be another story, and I will try as always.
Marquez hopes Rossi situation will imporve
In an interview with CNN, Marquez, who is hosting a training camp for 20 young riders, says he understands Rossi’s situation:
The relationship with Valentino was really good until Thursday (before) Malaysia. I think there he created so much more of what was not natural, not good for motorcycling…The problem is that too many people start to speak about the situation. (When we arrived) in Valencia, I say ‘Please we need to win the race because if not … he will complain.’ Lorenzo did the fastest lap, the record of the circuit, the record of the total laps … I couldn’t pass him, I couldn’t win; but you know for me the target was to win the race and that was the best way to finish the season.
I already said in Valencia to Valentino, ‘My hand is here,’ and I want the best for motorcycling, and I think the best thing is to be in a good relationship with him. [But] at that moment (in Valencia) he had just lost the championship, and he was really worn. I understand the situation, so I don’t want to think a lot about what he said, but I hope that 2016 will be a new season, a new relationship and (we) try to forget all these things.
Wins Monza Rally
Rossi wins his fourth Monza Rally, beating Roberto Brivio by 4.8 seconds, and Thierry Neuville by 13.4 seconds in the fourth stage. Neuville comes second overall in the rally.
The season finished in Valencia, the real one, but my season finishes after the Rally of Monza. Also in November I try to fix all my things and this one is like at the end of my season. From Monday morning I will be on my real holidays. Monza is always a great moment and a great way to finish the season.
Leads Monza Rally
Rossi ends the second last day of the Monster Energy Monza Rally with a 33.6s lead over the competition at the Italian rally event, which cuts across the Monza national park and the Grand Prix circuit. There are still two final stages remaining on the last day. If Rossi wins, it will be his fourth time to win the event.
Monza is always a great moment and a great way to finish the season because I get great enjoyment from it this year and this year I am in front so I am happy. For a long, long time I’ve returned to this rally because I like this event. You have the thrill of the race but less pressure than in MotoGP so I can enjoy it. I can drive this car which is fantastic. Also in our team we have Brivio and Uccio, so it always good fun.
Valentino Rossi: The Game announced
MotoGP and Italian game developer Milestone, announce the official 2016 MotoGP video game, Valentino Rossi: The Game. The game will allow players to retrace Rossi’s career from its beginnings to the present day, take control of a Rally car and let loose on various tracks such as the Monza Rally, participate in thrilling Flat Track races and discover the Valentino Rossi Ranch. The game is scheduled for release in June 2016 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Rossi:
I’m happy to announce that I’ll participate in the making of Valentino Rossi The Game, along with the guys at Milestone. We chose to include both the most important elements of my MotoGP career, and all the extra circuit stuff that are so important to me, like Ranch, Rally and more. It will be fun to approach the game not only as a gamer, but also as a ‘test driver’. I’ll work with the development team to make sure all fans will get the best experience they ever had.
Milestone CEO:
Milestone has been developing MotoGP for a few years, but the experience we are going to offer all motorcycle racing and Valentino fans this year is quite simply unique. Players can grapple with the entire 2016 official championship, but most of all they can experience the passion, professionalism and experience of Valentino Rossi, both in and out of the championship, with exclusive rally and flat track content, as well as much more that only the number 46 can offer.
In F1, Rossi ‘would have been disqualified for sure’
Ecclestone says, if it was F1, that Rossi would have been disqualified.
Rossi would have been disqualified for sure. Or he would have been shown the black flag. [The situation between Rossi and Marquez] is a warning for F1. I’ll give you an example: let’s suppose Ferrari is en route for the title and Mercedes block them with one of their customer teams, what would happen then?
On whether Rossi could have switched to F1 (he tested for Ferrari) from MotoGP.
In bikes he was at the top as far as importance and earnings are concerned, while in F1 he would have had to start from scratch. He did the right thing in not switching.
Lorenzo expects Rossi relationship to recover
Lorenzo says he expects his relationship with Rossi to recover.
Valentino has been always very clever speaking to the media and sometimes you don’t have completely the reason, but he expressed his opinions. You have to understand it as best as possible. It’s normal that the relationship gets a little bit tenser and especially after Sepang, where he expressed his opinion and I expressed my opinion, the situation did get a little bit more tense. I think the past will forget everything and everything in the future will come again into normality.
He also says he is proud of his win.
It makes me very proud to spend six or seven years finishing in first or second, but it also makes me very proud to be champion, fighting and competing against three generation of champions. Like Marc who is younger, Casey who is the same age as me, and Valentino who is older.
Jarvis: Rossi ‘destroyed’, recovering motivation
Yamaha’s Jarvis says that Rossi was “destroyed” by his situation.
When you put in all this energy and strive for the title every day until the last lap, and then you see the target vanish, you find yourself destroyed. Understandably, Valentino was completely empty. The best thing for him would have been to have months to recover and find a new motivation. But on the second day of testing, he had a different expression; he had rediscovered his enthusiasm. It was what we hoped to see…In [the last] three weeks [of the season], all the MotoGP riders, teams, organisers, came under stress: small cracks have widened dramatically. It’s important that Dorna and the FIM can review and analyse what happened, and then make the necessary changes. If the season starts without finding solutions, without discussing it appropriately, then everything will be very difficult.
Suppo: Marquez crazy not to beat Jorge
Repsol Honda team principal, Livio Suppo, comments on how Marquez should deal with the situation.
Go on holiday and relax. I think there’s nothing really we can add, especially Marc. If people believe him we are happy, if they don’t I think ‘time is a gentleman’ [an Italian phrase that can mean ‘time is a healer’ or ‘the truth will come out’]. I’m just so sad for what happened on Sunday [at Valencia] because I know that Marc really wanted to win this race. And when I saw him in parc ferme, I’ve never seen him so disappointed. Because he is a clever guy – you must be stupid to do deliberately what happened on Sunday…If you think seriously, with no pressure, you understand that it is crazy for Marc not trying to beat Jorge. Even if Marc finished in front of Jorge with Dani in third, Jorge was still world champion with the same points [as Rossi]. That would probably be even better, because this championship was deserved by both of them [Rossi and Lorenzo] and it would then have been decided only by different race wins.
He also says he has a lot of respect for Rossi.
I met Valentino coming back from Indy I think, in the lounge at the airport, and I said honestly I have more respect now than I have 10 years ago. Because what he’s done this season – it doesn’t matter if he won the championship or not – has been unbelievable; 36 years old, coming from the 500 and still able to fight with the young guns that are riding in a totally different way. And this year to beat almost all of them and lose the championship by only five points has been really unbelievable. Of course we cannot be happy with the situation that has been created by the words of Valentino, starting from the Sepang press conference. I really hope Valentino will understand that Honda and Marc are not against him. We just try to do our championship and if he thinks differently I’m very sorry, but it’s not like that.
#TheGrandFinale video release
0 0 Mark Devlin Mark Devlin2015-11-14 01:14:242015-11-14 01:14:24#TheGrandFinale video release
Losing championship ‘hurt’
Speaking to italian reporters, Rossi says that it will take months to get over his World Championship loss.
Honestly on Sunday after the race it hurt but it’s a different situation as there is lots of adrenaline. On Monday instead it was tough and yesterday [Tuesday], too, it was quite a struggle. Today [Wednesday] it has been a bit better, but it’s something, a situation, that will take months to – not forget it, because you’ll never forget it – but to come to terms with.
He also questions Honda cancelling its press conference:
I’m curious to see Honda’s telemetry. Oh, they haven’t shown it? Strange! I’d like to figure out how they think they can demonstrate through telemetry that I had kicked him. This is something you should ask them. Poor guys, they wanted to show it but for the good of motorcycle racing they won’t…
Rossi drops Marquez merchandize
According to Italian website, Corriere della Sera, Rossi has decided to end his business ties with Marquez. Beginning next year, the VR46 Store, will no longer manage Marquez’s MM93 merchandise. The Tavullian company owned by Rossi manages the merchandise of 20 riders and hails an annual turnover of 12.5 million euros. Next year, another company will be dealing with the sale of t-shirts, caps and other novelty MM93 products.
Valencia Test Day 2
Rossi ends the two-day Valencia test in seventh overall after adjusting the settings of his bikes to match the Michelin tyres. He clocks a personal best lap of 1’31.498 on lap 57.
The second day, for us, was quite positive. It was a long day, I did a lot of laps and I tried to improve my feeling with the new tyres. I‘m quite happy because in the afternoon my lap times were not so bad. I did long runs to understand the tyres and I was always quite fast. We improved the bike a lot compared to yesterday and the tyres, especially the front gave a better feedback and this is the most important. We also worked a little bit on the electronics systems for next year, which has already improved a lot compared to yesterday, but we still have work to do.
Valencia Test Day 1
Rossi tests out the 2016 Yamaha M1 with new electronics and Michelin tires at Valencia. His best time of 1’32.401 puts him in twelfth place.
It‘s a big change and it will be interesting, especially the tyre will make a big difference for next year. A lot changed, especially the setting, the weight distribution of the bike and everything. It looks like our competitors are a little ahead, because they‘ve made more kilometres with the Michelin, but it‘s just the first day. I also tried the new electronics and also that, as I expected, was quite a big step because it‘s like going a little bit into the past. However, that too could be interesting and it‘s only the first day, we have a lot to work on. The rear tyre is very similar and Michelin is good, it has very good grip. The front is the big difference.
Rossi claims Spanish ‘stitch up’
Rossi says he was denied his win by a Spanish ‘stitch-up’’. Rossi say Lorenzo is a deserving champion but he could not understand why Honda should want to see a Yamaha rider win. He accuses Márquez of being a ‘biscottone’ – an expression used in football when two teams play out a mutually beneficial draw to the detriment of another – but said he expected no less.
I did what I could but it was a strange situation having Márquez as the bodyguard of Lorenzo. It is embarrassing for the sport. Hopefully the sport’s authorities will be able to sort it out. It is an ugly end to what has been an attractive championship. It has not been a true championship and this should not happen in sport.
Márquez responds that it is ‘a lack of respect’ to suggest he had not tried to win:
I always give everything and I know there will be people that will say that I have been second because I wanted Lorenzo to win.
Lorenzo, however, says that the Spaniards may have helped each other:
The fact that they knew what I was going for and that they are Spanish has helped me and in another race they may have tried everything to overtake. Dani did well because he could have tried a crazy overtake. We are Spanish and the title remains in Spain. If it had been in Italy and with two Italians behind Rossi then it would have been the same.
Valencia GP: 4th place
2 CommentsDespite starting from the back of the grid, Rossi takes 4th place in Valencia. Jorge Lorenzo finishes first, in front of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, denying Rossi the 2015 MotoGP World Championship.
Relaxed, happy with practice
After coming fifth in FP1 and fourth in FP2, Rossi says he is relaxed about Valencia practice.
I’m not working any differently; we did something very similar to what we always do. I’m very relaxed and I’m quite happy with today’s two practice sessions because my pace in the morning wasn’t bad and I was pretty competitive with the used tyres. I’m also pleased that in the afternoon we tried something different that allowed me to up the pace and improve my lap times. I used the hard tyres, which wasn’t so bad, and after I tried the soft to make a comparison and make the right choice for Sunday. If we do a good job with the set-up that could make things less difficult, but Valencia is a tough track for making up ground because it’s pretty narrow. On top of that, we’re not especially quick on the straights, our top speed isn’t that high, so we have to work hard in other areas, like the braking, to get the set-up right…The start is vital in MotoGP. It accounts for, say, 80% of the race, but Sunday will be a bit different for me, because I’ll have traffic ahead of me and I’ll have to have the energy and momentum to keep up the pace from beginning to end.
Must start from back of grid
Rossi will start the final MotoGP race of the season in Valencia from the back of the grid after his penalty is confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). FIM confirms the ruling, but says that the denied request was for the stay of execution, and that there is the possibility that the penalty could be revoked later, but only after it has been served. CAS:
[The arbitration board] found that the conditions to grant the stay were not met, which means that the sanction imposed by FIM, the sport’s ruling body, will have to be served at the next grand prix in Valencia.
Rossi:
When you start last, it’s very difficult to prepare strategies. You have to work well in practice and be competitive and have good pace. For sure when you start last, the risks are a lot more. [The title] depends on me and if I’m strong and fast enough to be able to recover. The answer of the CAS has not arrived yet, today it was just that I have to start last in this race because they need time to decide. We have to wait and see, but the important thing is I have to start last.