Rossi wins 2011 Laureus Award

Monday, 7 February 2011

The nine-time World Champion collected the ‘Comeback of the Year’ Award at the ceremony, which took place in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Valentino Rossi’s incredible recovery from injury in 2010 was recognised by the Laureus Academy on Monday, as the Italian MotoGP rider was honoured with the 2011 Laureus World Sports Award ‘Comeback of the Year’ prize.

The Academy, which is made up of 46 of the greatest sportspeople of all time, voted Rossi’s remarkable return to action just 41 days after an exposed fracture of his right tibia as the most deserving of the award. The Italian suffered the injury in a practice session crash at Mugello on June 5th, and was back on track for the opening practice session of the German Grand Prix on July 16th.

Rossi held off competition from US golfer Paula Creamer, American sprinter Tyson Gay, Belgian tennis star Justine Henin, and athletes Carolina Kluft and Merlene Ottey to take the prize.

Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal was named Sportsman of the Year and American skier Lindsey Vonn the Sportswoman of the Year at the ceremony in Abu Dhabi, which also bestowed awards in Team, Breakthrough, Sportsperson with a Disability, and Action Sportsperson of the Year categories, as well as Lifetime Achievement, Spirit of Sport and Sport for Good Awards.

It was also announced at the ceremony that five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan had been elected to the Laureus World Sports Academy, joining another MotoGP Legend Giacomo Agostini.

Hayden and Rossi make final day advances

Thursday, 3 February 2011

The Ducati Team riders both set top-ten laps on the third day of the Sepang Test as they rounded off their first full on-track evaluations of the GP11.

Rossi ready to push on after first Sepang Test

Valentino Rossi pronounced himself very satisfied with the progress made on the GP11’s setup, allowing him to drop his best lap time by over seven-tenths of a second compared to yesterday. Despite being limited by his still-healing shoulder, the Italian was also happy with his physical progress and with the work done by his team.

Nicky Hayden also improved each day, and he looks forward to seeing the fruits of his labour at the next Test, which will once again take place at Sepang between February 22nd-24th.

Nicky Hayden, 8th, 2’01.534 (60 laps):

“It’s great to be back here, and to be back on the bike. We had three important days with a lot of work to do. Of course I don’t like to still be so far away from the leaders, but we’ve reduced the gap every day. Today it looked like it could rain at any time, so we did a lot of laps in the morning and found some stuff we like. We chased the chatter a lot, which cost us time trying to figure out what’s going on. Last year, that was something we only had a problem with at this one track. We don’t want it anywhere, but it could be a problem that’s not related to the GP11 in general and is specific just to this circuit. We also tested some tyres for Bridgestone and gave them some information that can help down the road. We realise there’s still a lot of work to do, and that starts with the rider. When we come back, we'll keep reducing the gap to the front guys.”

Valentino Rossi, 10th, 2’01.842 (52 laps):

“I’m very happy because before coming here, I expected to do 20, 30 laps per day, and as it turns out, I did around 40 each of the first two days and over 50 today. Of course I was really finished by the end, in part because the rest of my body has to work differently; my left arm has to do extra work, so it’s very tired. But I’m really happy with my shoulder because it’s improving day-by-day, and even after the stress of having ridden a MotoGP bike at the limit, I don’t have any problems: now it’s just a question of strength. My mobility has improved a lot, and I no longer think my physical limitations cost me a second; let’s say I lose five or six tenths, especially on braking and in corner entry. Anyway, we worked well today too, and we were able to collect a lot of data and solve the chattering problem we were experiencing. Obviously, there’s still a lot to do, but compared to the start of the Test, we’ve definitely gotten closer to the base set-up we’re looking for. There’s no need to change the Desmosedici’s character; we need to take advantage of its best characteristics – its stability and its engine – and improve the other areas, especially the in-corner behaviour, to make it turn better. In any case, the overall evaluation of the Test is definitely good; today we’re a second off the top riders, and also in the afternoon, riding with race tyres, the distance stayed around seven or eight tenths. I still have to do more kilometres in order to understand other aspects of the GP11 but, although I have to change my riding style a little, I now feel much more at home with the Ducati.”

Ducati Team press release

Rossi exercising patience with shoulder

Wednesday, 2 February 2011

The Italian completed a productive second day at Sepang, where he was able to test different fairings on the Desmosedici to aid his recovering shoulder.

Valentino Rossi’s position on the timesheet at the Sepang Test may be uncharacteristic for the Italian, but as the last two days have passed the Ducati rider has gained increasing encouragement from what he has been able to do on the Desmosedici.

Twelfth fastest on day one with a best time of 2’03.365 Rossi improved by almost eight-tenths of a second on Wednesday to end 13th but with a lap of 2’02.597, and he explained how his shoulder was affecting his progress.

“Being able to ride again today is important because the shoulder isn’t getting worse under the continued strain. Everything is fine while riding under 2’03”, then when I try to take another second off the strength diminishes and the pain increases,” he said. “It needs more time, without doubt. The situation will improve, but it will be a wait until May. Only then will we be able to work extensively on the bike, because everything we do now could be thrown into doubt when we record more competitive times, when my physical condition is perfect.”

Discussing the areas focused on during day two in Malaysia, Rossi continued: “Today we tried a lot of things, especially with the aerodynamics. We focused on comparing fairings and riding with and without wings, and I’m more inclined towards the latter option. The fact is that I’m not in the best physical condition and with the wings I find more resistance in corner entry, which is not good for my shoulder. One of the things we need to improve is going through the turns, because I can’t turn the bike as I would like to. Tomorrow we’re going to continue working with the same enthusiasm as we had today, and at the end of the Test we’ll leave with a lot of information.”

Another important aspect worked on by Rossi and his crew was tyres, which he indicated had a big impact on the handling of the GP11.

“We also did a Test with the tyres, and that’s something that the Ducati depends a lot on as its behaviour changes a lot depending on whether the tyres are hard or soft,” he stated. “The results haven’t been bad, but we haven’t solved the problems with vibration in the front yet. When it starts to vibrate the bike is really difficult to handle.”

Having seen Wednesday’s fastest rider Dani Pedrosa post a best lap some 1.827s quicker than his own, Rossi assessed the competition with whom he has been sharing the track over the past two days.

“Everybody seems to be very much in shape, both the bikes and the riders. It’s normal to go harder in Testing than during a GP weekend. When you have three days in which to ride you can ride fast all day because it makes the bike perform better, and above all because there’s more rubber on the track,” he said, before adding a comment about his aims for the third and final day on Thursday.

“For this reason I think that tomorrow I can go even faster. Our objective is to improve our times, but mainly to improve my feeling with the bike and find how to ride with less difficulty,” he concluded.

First MotoGP Test of 2011 ends with Simoncelli on top

Thursday, 3 February 2011

The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider finished Thursday at the Sepang Test with the fastest time of the entire three days. Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo were second and third fastest respectively, with Valentino Rossi tenth.

Sepang Test 2011 - Day 3

The first on-track MotoGP action of the year concluded at Sepang on Thursday, and in an exciting opening chapter of the pre-season period it was Marco Simoncelli who topped the third and final day’s timesheet in Malaysia. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider posted a 2’00.757 on his second of 42 laps, an effort that registered the best time of the entire Test and which was just 0.239s off Valentino Rossi’s 2009 circuit best lap.

The Ducati rider has also been one of the main focuses of attention throughout these three days, and he ended Thursday tenth in the timings with a lap of 2’01.842 – 1.085s off his fellow compatriot’s scorching marker.

Casey Stoner has been in fine form throughout this Test and the new Repsol Honda recruit was one of four riders to join Simoncelli under the 2’01” mark on the final day. The Australian’s effort of 2’00.811 was noted on his 38th of 42 laps, thus continuing his pattern of setting his best time late in the day and showing no lingering effects of a fall at Turn 5 earlier on.

World Champion Jorge Lorenzo was just 0.088s off Simoncelli as he placed his factory M1 as the highest Yamaha of the day. The Spaniard, who performed a tyre test in the afternoon, was precisely 0.1s faster than Andrea Dovizioso, whose Repsol Honda machine was the third RC212V inside the top four by the close of play.

Ben Spies’ integration into the Yamaha Factory Racing Team set-up maintained its smooth rate of progress. The American, using this Test to bond with his crew, finished Thursday with a time of 2’01.002 having ridden 60 laps, his best effort coming on the sixth of those. A brace of Hondas then followed, with Dani Pedrosa (+0.484s on Simoncelli) rounding off what has been an encouraging Test for the Repsol Honda rider who came into the Test hoping for no major problems with his collarbone. His best time from Wednesday also stood as the second fastest of the Test overall. Hiroshi Aoyama (+0.596s) appears to be making a slick transition to the San Carlo Honda Gresini set-up, and completed the highest number of laps of any rider with 63.

The highest placing Ducati on Thursday was that of Nicky Hayden. The factory team rider tried out different race settings on the GP11, and he and fellow American Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) were the last two to come within a second of Simoncelli’s top time.

Rossi then led a group of five Ducatis, the Italian running a new set-up on the final day and managing to deal with the chatter issue that had been affecting his GP11. Héctor Barberá (Aspar Team), Loris Capirossi and Randy de Puniet of Pramac Racing, and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) occupied positions 11 to 14.

British rookie Cal Crutchlow put in 44 laps on the last day, setting a time of 2’02.717 on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine, with Toni Elías (LCR Honda) completing the MotoGP riders on track. Álvaro Bautista was absent from the final day due to illness, leaving Suzuki Test rider Nobu Aoki to carry out the Japanese factory’s scheduled workload.