Argentina a big question mark’ says excited Rossi
Following on from an inconclusive Austin MotoGP weekend, an
excited Valentino Rossi has a 'big question mark' over the new venue in
Argentina.
One of his worst events of last year, Rossi was seeking a
strong COTA performance to confirm his improved form after an inspiring victory
battle with champion Marc Marquez in Qatar.
Instead the Italian was one of a number of riders to suffer
front tyre problems and faded from the podium fight to eighth. But if Rossi had
doubts about his potential in Texas, this weekend's third round is a far
greater unknown.
Argentina last hosted a Motorcycle Grand Prix in 1999, when
a youthful Rossi concluded a title winning season with third in the 250cc race,
having won the 1998 event.
But such prior experience will be of no use to the Movistar
Yamaha rider, with a venue change from Buenos Aires to the new Termas de RioHondo circuit, over 1000km north-west of the capital.
“It is important to go immediately to Argentina after the
weekend in Austin and try to get a good result,”
“Argentina is a big question mark for everybody because we
don't know the track.
“It is really hard to understand now if this track will be
suitable for the Yamaha as there are many variables. We'll know after the first
few laps on the track. I am happy with the work we are doing so far and in
Argentina we will be even more focused to get good results.
“We'll have to understand as soon as possible the ideal
set-up of the bike, and above all we'll have to understand how the tyres behave
on this asphalt. We will analyse all the data and we will do our best. Going to
a new circuit is always exciting!”
The only MotoGP riders with some previous knowledge of the
venue are Stefan Bradl, Alvaro Bautista, Cal Crutchlow and Hector Barbera, who
took part in a two-day fact-finding test in July 2013.
Crutchlow was then riding for Tech 3 Yamaha and it will be
his data that will be used as a starting point for the 2014 M1 riders.
“We can't wait to start on Friday to see how the new track
is. Our base set up will be built on the data we got last year from Tech 3 when
they went to test there so at least we won't be completely blind going in,”
confirmed team director Massimo Meregalli.
