MotoGP News
Date: 22/May/2012
When Valentino Rossi caught arch-rival Casey Stoner in the early laps of Sunday’s wet French Grand Prix at Le Mans, thoughts instantly turned to last year’s clash between the pair at Jerez.
In an almost identical scenario, Rossi had used the slippery Jerez conditions to charge towards the front, but couldn’t contain his enthusiasm at the thought of a possible first Ducati podium.
The seven time MotoGP champion rushed a pass on Stoner, promptly lost the front of his Desmosedici and wiped-out the Australian as he slid across the track.
Stoner was livid. Even more so when Rossi was able to rejoin, while the Australian was forced to park his RC212V after a failed bump start following minimal assistance from the marshals.
Rossi’s attempt to apologise after the race only resulted in Stoner taunting the Italian with the words “Did your ambition outweigh your talent?”
Eager to avoid a repeat of such controversy - and keep a rare Ducati podium chance alive - a visibly cautious Rossi held station behind Stoner during the early Le Mans laps.
Rossi, 33, said: “I was always thinking about last year’s mistake! Unfortunately, last year I had a special chance in Jerez to fight for the podium, but I made a mistake because I behaved like a young rider! Unfortunately I also took Casey down.
“This time when I was behind Casey, I stayed behind him. I knew Casey had a good pace and my idea was to stay with him and try to catch Lorenzo in the lead.”
Reigning double world champion Stoner, looking a more relaxed figure since the shock announcement that he will retire from MotoGP at the end of this year, claimed he could tell Rossi was taking things carefully.
Stoner, 26, said: “I knew that Valentino was thinking about Jerez. I heard Valentino getting on the gas very early and expected to see his bike coming up the inside at any moment. But he didn’t, so I knew Valentino was thinking about it!”
The early caution looked to have cost Rossi a shot at second position as he then dropped back from Stoner.
However the Italian megastar later explained that he had been struggling with vision problems from a fogging visor and, once fixed, was able to break free from Tech 3 Yamaha riders Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso and reel Stoner back in.
Stoner, struggling with an overheating rear tyre by the end of the race, was forced to concede second place to Rossi on the very final lap.
Stoner said: “I knew by the end of the race Valentino wasn’t going to worry about Jerez. I tried to hold on but we had nothing for him. I did everything I could to stay in front, but I couldn’t even keep up with him on the last lap. I think he pulled a second and a half on me.”
Second place behind runaway winner Lorenzo (Yamaha) marked Rossi’s best ever result as a Ducati rider and only his second podium appearance in ‘red’, following a fortuitous third place - due to incidents ahead - in last year’s dry French event.
“The Desmosedici always has a good feeling in the wet and I am happy because this is my best result for Ducati,” smiled Rossi. “This time we didn’t throw anyway the chance of a podium.”
However Rossi is under no illusions about the amount of work still needed to turn the GP12 into a front-runner in the dry.
‘The Doctor’, winner of a record 79 MotoGP races for Honda and Yamaha between 2000 and 2010, admitted: “For sure if you want rain, you are in trouble! I know that rain gives me a special chance to fight for the podium, but we have to try to fight for this position in the dry.”
After a promising initial test on the new aluminium-frame GP12 in January, Rossi and his team lost their way over following tests and continued to struggle for a set-up at the start of the new racing season.
The turnaround came when Rossi switched to the kind of ‘long and low’ bike set-up favoured by team-mate Nicky Hayden.
“From Portugal we found a good base to work from,” Rossi confirmed. “This weekend was the best qualifying for us [seventh] and in the dry I was not so bad. But unfortunately we are still slower in the dry conditions than in the wet, so we have to fight for worse positions.”
A series of much-anticipated performance upgrades, included a smoother engine, are due to be introduced in phases between Silverstone and Laguna Seca, rounds six and ten.
Rossi and Hayden will prepare the modifications during three private test sessions at Mugello in May, June and July.
“Next week we will have an important test at Mugello to try new stuff,” said Rossi. “Our target now is to be closer to those ahead, especially to the Tech 3 Yamahas that are not a lot faster than us, and to improve our performance step-by-step.”
Rossi announced he will remain in MotoGP for at least the next two seasons, during the same press conference that saw Stoner reveal his shock retirement decision.
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