Six races to decide Valentino Rossi's MotoGP future

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Valentino Rossi's performances during the opening six races of next season will be 'crucial' in deciding whether the Italian continues his MotoGP career beyond 2014.

The legendary seven time MotoGP champion claimed a record 80th victory during his return to Yamaha this year, but was left firmly in the wake of Marc Marquez (Honda), Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda) in the championship standings.

In an extract released by Sportmediaset.it from "The New Age - A year of MotoGP", to be broadcast by the Italy 1 TV channel tonight (Wednesday), Rossi states:

"If I'm here and I want to keep racing, I will have to stay ahead in 2014, closer to the first three. From February to June, the tests and the first six races will be crucial for deciding whether to continue or stop racing in MotoGP at the end of the season. I'd like to continue for another couple of years, but only if they are competitive."

As part of his efforts to bridge the gap to the class leaders, 34-year-old Rossi has split from crew chief Jerry Burgess, a decision he also addresses in the programme. 

Rossi's most recent world title was in 2009, the #46 breaking a leg early in 2010 then making an ill-fated switch to Ducati for 2011.

The sixth race of the 2014 season will be Rossi's home Italian round, at Mugello.

Valentino Rossi runner-up in Monza Rally Show

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MotoGP star Valentino Rossi got his latest dose of rallying action with a runner-up result in this weekend's Monza Rally Show.

After nine asphalt stages within the confines of the famous Italian circuit, Rossi was classified 10.6s behind Citroen's WRC star Dani Sordo. 

Four-wheel endurance star Rinaldo Capello completed the podium.

Rossi, winner of last year's event, was again at the wheel of a WRC-spec Ford Fiesta with Carlo Cassina as his co-driver.

The seven time MotoGP champion was also second to Sordo in the Master Show knock-out tournament.

"For me this is one of the highlights of the year – I get to race against my friends and there is very little pressure to perform," said Rossi.

"It is a shame that I didn't get the overall wins today but I'm proud of four stage wins which is incredible for me. And I get to see all of the fans from rally and MotoGP which is great. 

"I'm coming back next year!"

Rossi finished fourth in the MotoGP championship during his Yamaha comeback season, including a first race win since 2010. The nine time world champion will continue alongside Jorge Lorenzo in 2014.

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Valentino Rossi Introduces His Moto3 Team at the Tavullia Ranch

Valentino Rossi has launched his new Moto3 squad, Team Sky-VR46 during an event which took place a his Moto Ranch near his hometown Tavullia.


The 9-time World Champion's Moto3 team is sponsored by SkyTV and has Romano Fenati and Francesco Bagnaia as riders. The team's manager is Vittoriano Guareschi. SkyTV has also bought the TV rights for MotoGP for the next 5 years, so we might get to see the Doctor's team quite a lot...

You can watch track action from the event and even Valentino Rossi taking a fall during the usual friendly races at the Moto Ranch following the link below (requires free registration with motogp.com)
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/valentino-rossi-introduces-his-moto3-team-at-the-tavullia-ranch-72020.html

"Rossi Is Trying to Do What He's No Longer Capable of Doing", Jeremy Burgess

Valentino Rossi's former crew chief Jeremy Burgess has spoken with GP-Inside about the separation between them, announced before the last round of the 2013 MotoGP season. Far from resenting the hiatus, Burgess seems just as committed to Rossi, but speaks openly about how the end of his career is drawing near.

Burgess tells that he knew that Valentino, just like many other sportsmen getting closer to the end of their careers, might try something radical, but still the news was a shock. He remembers tennis player Andre Agassi changing his coach towards the end of his pro career, but failing to find the new drive Rossi seems to be looking for.

However, he says that either way, the future will provide answers: if Rossi gets back to winning on a constant basis, then this will prove that the move was right. If nothing happens, the move simply remains one of the things which had to be tried out.

Burgess only hopes that Rossi will know when it's time to hang his leathers and walk out of MotoGP like one of the greatest champions he is, and most important to literally walk away, unhurt.

Valentino Rossi is a great rider, Burgess says, but even if he claims he can still do what he did 10 or more years ago, it is impossible that he could keep up with the first three, younger riders in MotoGP, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and the new Champion, Marquez.

Rossi and these three are definitely much faster than the rest, but this is not enough, as he is far from the top three. And he's 34 now, no longer a wild child.

Speaking about retirement, Jeremy Burgess concludes: "One must not fear such a decision, because we all know very well that once a journey started, it will come to an end one day."

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Valentino Rossi Drive the Ford Fiesta RS WRC

The fact that The Doctor is fast even on 4 wheels is not newsworthy. However, going against the likes of Dani Sordo who is a pro rally driver and not making a fool of himself is indeed a thing few others can brag on.

So here are some highlights from Rossi's runs at the Monza rally show. He stepped into a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, and had Carlo Cassina as co-driver.

Rossi finished the Monza Rally Show in the second position overall, having won no less than 4 of the 9 asphalt stages.

And in case you think this was luck, you should also know that Rossi won the last year's edition of the Monza Rally.

Lorenzo, Rossi conclude testing programme

'We worked a lot to try to test some new systems for the fuel consumption and the settings; it has been a good test' - Valentino Rossi

Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will not participate in the third day of the Valencia MotoGP test after completing their testing schedule today.

Lorenzo set the second fastest time in 1m 30.768s behind new world champion Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda, who lapped in 1m 30.536s.

Rossi, meanwhile, ended the second day of the three-day test in seventh place on the time sheets behind Bradley Smith on the satellite Yamaha Tech 3 M1, lapping in 1m 31.414s.

The Yamaha pair again tested an early version of the 2014 YZR-M1 and worked on a set-up to reduce fuel consumption ahead of next season's rule changes, which will see a reduction in the fuel allowance for MotoGP races. 

“We tested next year's bike today and we found some positive things. We are trying some small details that will give us some small advantages,” said Lorenzo.

“We will wait for Sepang to have bigger and more important modifications.”

Nine-time world champion Rossi admitted he found the going tougher with the new M1 today as he slipped down the times.

“Today we focused on the new bike and it was a little bit more difficult than yesterday,” he said.

“We worked a lot to try to test some new systems for the fuel consumption and the settings; it has been a good test. 

“At the end the performance wasn't fantastic but we made an important job for winter to arrive competitive next year,” added Rossi.

“During this season I wasn't strong enough in braking so this is the target to improve.”

Lorenzo and Rossi will now take a well-earned break before returning to the track for the first official IRTA test of 2014 in Sepang, Malaysia.

Rossi: "Márquez looks like he's going to win lots of titles"

If Valentino Rossi has a soft spot for any of his fellow riders, it is Marc Márquez. He has even invited the Spanish youngster to practise with him at his private ranch in Italy.

After the Spaniard sealed his first ever MotoGP title, the nine-time world champion discussed the bright future ahead of the 20-year-old. "The sky's the limit for him", Rossi claimed. "He was extremely strong this year and won the title as a rookie, which is no mean feat, even if he did have the best bike", he stated. Nevertheless, the Italian called for people to be patient while the youngster figures out "how much room for improvement he has next year". "If Yamaha improves, Lorenzo will mount a serious challenge in 2014, but Marc has the look of someone who's going to win lots of titles".