Toseland under pressure to get podiums
Added on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Big things are expected of Toseland next season.
James Toseland has been told that the Yamaha Tech 3 team expect results in 2009 as he enters his second season in MotoGP.
Toseland had mixed fortunes in his first season after leaving World Superbikes as champion, with a series of positive results early on, notably 6th place finishes in Qatar and Jerez. By the time the Yorkshire-man went into his home Grand Prix at Donington in round 8, he had already secured five top-seven finished.
After a crash on the first corner at Donington, the 28-year-old found the going tougher as a drop in confidence and a series of technical issues limited him to just four top-ten finishes in the remaining 10 rounds, giving him 11th place in the final standings.
Speaking to MotoGP.com, team principal Herve Poncharal laid down the gauntlet to both Toseland and teammate Colin Edwards, who secured the team’s only podium of the season at Le Mans, stating that contracts for beyond next season were on the table if the pair meet expectations.
“Nothing goes on forever in life, especially in sport and in MotoGP,” said the Frenchman. “Both James and Colin are now on one year contracts. Colin was due to leave MotoGP at the end of 2008 but because of the great season he had he managed to get one more year and maybe he is going to be even better in 2009 and will therefore still be with us in 2010. That is what I hope.
“James has been discovering MotoGP and has had to overcome a lot of problems, learning new tracks, getting used to a new bike and a new format of racing. He did really well when you have all that in mind. But clearly both of them are under a lot of pressure to perform, like we are and like everybody is in MotoGP.´
“We are expecting a major improvement from James and I think he is capable of it. It is difficult to reach the top and both of them are at the top level in their sport, but sometimes it is even more difficult to remain there. They know the game and it is a tough environment, but this is the life, you want to be there and you have to prove that you are worth being there.
“I am quite sure James is going to have an incredibly exciting 2009 season. I have been talking to him recently and he is working a lot on his physical condition, he is highly motivated.
“So I can´t see why we won´t get the results we are looking for, but of course we also know that there are some young riders knocking at the MotoGP door and our riders know that too. Our riders understand that we need to get podiums.”
