Rossi out to make amends for Estoril and end Aussie drought
Added on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Rossi out to make amends for Estoril and end Aussie drought
Valentino Rossi is looking to end his Phillip Island win drought and get his championship defence back on track after a difficult weekend at Estoril two weeks ago.
Rossi was nowhere to be seen as rival Jorge Lorenzo romped to victory in Portugal, with the defending champion reportedly furious with his crew when he returned to the garage after a rear-grip problem left him finishing in fourth position.
The result saw Rossi’s lead over Lorenzo in the championship cut to 18 points and the Italian heads to Phillip Island in Australia knowing that he will have to win at a circuit where he has failed to win in three years.
Rossi’s last win at Phillip Island came in 2005 but since then and a Marco Melandri win in 2006, Casey Stoner has thrilled the crowds by winning on his home circuit.
But Rossi is heading Down Under in upbeat mood and is determined to put the struggles of Estoril behind him.
“Estoril was a great disappointment but we have to look at the positive and consider that we still came fourth and took 13 points in these conditions,” said Rossi. “I know that Yamaha have been studying the data very hard to understand what went wrong for us, and we hope that the situation in Phillip Island will be very different.
“I love this track and have some of the greatest memories of my career there and I really want to be in the best shape for this race. It’s too long since I’ve won there! I think that the championship is going to be a great fight to the end with Lorenzo, but the next two tracks especially are two of my best.”
Rossi’s crew chief Davide Brivio was also confident that the troubles of Estoril have been addressed and would not prove a problem at Phillip Island.
“Our engineers have been working hard to understand what went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again this weekend, and we’re looking forward to getting back on track and putting it behind us,” said Brivio. “Valentino has had some fantastic races in Australia but it’s a few years since he’s won there so we will doing everything we can to get back on the podium this weekend and increase our points lead in the title fight.”
