The Doctor Back to Brazil

 

 Yamaha Motor De Brazil

Valentino Rossi was met at the airport by a special delegation from Yamaha Motor de Brazil before being escorted to his hotel. After a chance to freshen up, MotoGP’s biggest hero got straight to work, enjoying his first interview of the day with Playboy magazine to talk about racing, Yamaha and in particular the new T-Max scooter. A quick signing session followed then it was time for the next activity.

Valentino was transported to Fazenda Capuava, a beautiful private racetrack situated in the middle of the Brazilian countryside for a very special ride out. He was joined on the track by two other superstars, TV Globo’s Leandro Mello and the legendary footballer Cafù. Cafù is the most internationally capped Brazilian player ever and the only player ever to have appeared in three World Cup finals, having won two, in 1994 and 2002.

The three stars hit the track together on Yamaha YZF-R1s for some high-speed fun before swapping the superbikes for a football for a quick game of soccer. There was no rest for Valentino as he then left behind his footballing friends to join another Brazilian legend, Alex Barros for an interview for Brazilian TV’s Linha de Chegada show. Alexandre is Brazil’s greatest international motorcyclist, a multiple national champion and a veteran of Grand Prix racing.

After a quick break for lunch the Doctor was straight back to work, firstly with another TV interview, this time with TV Globo’s MotoGP SporTV Channel and then secondly a group interview with 16 selected journalists

There was just time to return to the hotel for a signing session and a meet & greet with selected Yamaha dealers and winners of a social contest then it was time to head to the airport and catch a flight for Austin, Texas!

"Coming to Brazil is always special and I always get surprised by the fans and their passion for me and for MotoGP," said Rossi. "Today I enjoyed a lot all events, I had fun and it was a nice way to have some rest and fun before heading to Austin. Meeting Cafù was a surprise. I had a lot of fun with him on track on our R1s although later he had more fun when we played soccer. He is still strong, even stronger than me! My special thanks today go to Yamaha Motor de Brazil for arranging another unforgettable event and to all the Yamaha dealers, customers and fans who followed me from this early morning, when we arrived, to late evening when we left. I look forward to coming to Brazil again next year and meeting all my fans on track, on the occasion of the Brazilian MotoGP."

Kouichi Tsuji, YMC Motorsport Development Division, General Manager, commented: "It’s Valentino’s second time in Brazil for promotional purposes and the passion and the warmth from the fans is even bigger than it was last year. My special thanks go to Yamaha Motor de Brazil for arranging such a big event and for welcoming our MotoGP star Valentino Rossi in such big style. 

Today’s activities Valentino was involved with, joined by TV Globo, Cafù, Alex Barros and hundreds of fans will definitely give a strong boost to YMDB business. These type of events are part of Yamaha’s DNA and are made even more worthy by the depth of our riders, Valentino and Jorge, who have thousands of fans around the world. Yamaha’s core objective and mission is of course to develop new technologies but we have a duty to share our properties with the market and with our customers, that’s why events like today’s are invaluable. 

Finally, I would like to thank both Valentino and Jorge for making themselves available to make their Austin trip a little longer, visiting Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Latin-American countries will never forget this year’s events and hopefully we’ll be back next year."

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MotoGP 2014 Prediction Austin

 

The Hunt for Marquez Continues as MotoGP Heads To Texas

Following a spectacular race between Marquez and MovistarYamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi in the first race in Qatar, fans will be hoping for a repeat as the riders tackle the track’s unique layout. Marquez, despite breaking a leg only seven weeks ago, has looked in incredible shape – and will no doubt be tough to overhaul at the circuit where he took his first-ever MotoGP win last year.

For Rossi it will be crunch time as he sets out to prove that his pace in Qatar was not a one-off, while his teammate Jorge Lorenzo will look to make up for his first-lap crash in race one. Lorenzo’s uncharacteristic mistake will only spur him on more, as he takes to the track which last year looked to favour the rival Hondas. Repsol’s Dani Pedrosa will certainly be hoping that is the case, as he aims for the top step of the podium at the track where he pushed teammate Marquez extremely close last year.

There will be a lot of interest in the field just behind the front-runners, as the likes of GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith showed podium potential last time out, despite all suffering falls. If they can keep their respective pace over race-distance the factory riders could seriously be under threat. The Ducati Team with Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow have also shown a vast improvement in race-pace, and will aim to jump further up the rankings in the US.

A big question mark still remains over the potential of NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro, who has showed that over one lap he can be one of the fastest. If he qualifies to his true potential in Austin, a podium does certainly not look out of the question. His younger brother Pol on the Monster Yamaha Tech3 satellite machine will be hoping for a better second GP, as he had to retire with mechanical issues last time out. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone, who continued to the finish line even after suffering a crash, could prove to be a surprise in Texas, after the Italian showed some serious speed in Qatar.

American fans will have two locals to cheers on in the form of NGM Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards and Drive M7 Aspar’s Nicky Hayden, with both showing promising signs in Qatar. Both are now on competitive machinery, though Edwards has cited that he still needs to adapt his riding style, with Hayden lacking a bit of top-end power. Of the "Open" bikes, another to watch will be GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Scott Redding, who had a fantastic debut in Qatar, despite suffering with a lack of fuel.

Completing the grid in Motogp 2014 Austin will be Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham, Drive M7 Aspar’s Hiroshi Aoyama, Pramac Racing’s Yonny Hernandez, Avintia Racing duo Hector Barbera and Mike di Meglio, Iodaracing Project’s Danilo Petrucci and the PBM pairing of Michael Laverty and Broc Parkes.

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Standings Motogp Qatar 2014

 

Doha, Sunday, March 23, 2014

Marc Marquez won a thrilling, 13-lap battle with Valentino Rossi to take the first race of the 2014 MotoGP Season at the Losail Circuit in Qatar.  Rossi, who started 10th on the grid, took second after a charge through the field and several late-race lead swaps with the eventual winner.

Dani Pedrosa took third after a multi-lap fight with Alvaro Bautista.

Bautista was one of several solo crashers including former world champion Jorge Lorenzo who low-sided at turn 15 while leading the first lap. Bradley Smith crashed out while in a comfortable in fifth late in the race. Stefan Bradl dumped his Honda on turn six while leading eight laps into the race with Marquez and Rossi on his tail.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	166.4	42'40.561
2	20	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	166.3	+0.259
3	16	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	166.1	+3.370
4	13	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	NGM Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	165.6	+11.623
5	11	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	165.6	+12.159
6	10	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Ducati Team	Ducati	164.5	+28.526
7	9	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	GO&FUN Honda Gresini	Honda	164.3	+32.593
8	8	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Drive M7 Aspar	Honda	164.3	+32.628
9	7	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	163.8	+39.547
10	6	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	163.6	+43.360
11	5	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Drive M7 Aspar	Honda	163.4	+46.595
12	4	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Energy T.I. Pramac Racing	Ducati	163.4	+46.688
13	3	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Honda	163.1	+50.581
14	2	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	IodaRacing Project	ART	162.4	+1'03.127
15	1	23	Broc PARKES	AUS	Paul Bird Motorsport	PBM	161.7	+1'14.386
16		70	Michael LAVERTY	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	PBM	160.5	+1'32.593
17		63	Mike DI MEGLIO	FRA	Avintia Racing	Avintia	160.3	+1'36.085
Not Classified
		19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	GO&FUN Honda Gresini	Honda	166.2	2 Laps
		38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	166.1	4 Laps
		44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	165.0	5 Laps
		6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	165.6	14 Laps
		8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Racing	Avintia	160.7	18 Laps
		99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha		0 Lap

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Marc Marquez Grand Prix of Qatar 2014

 

Opening For Day Grand Prix Of Qatar 2014

Marc Marquez who climbed back aboard his RC213V for the first time in 6 weeks after breaking his leg, chose not to have any painkillers and managed an impressive 15 laps. He finished 11th for the night with a time of 1’56.682, 1.5s off the pace but knowing that he can improve over the weekend.

Marquez was upbeat as ever, "I am fairly happy with how the first session went, because I haven't been on the bike in a while. I didn’t think my foot would bother me so much - especially on the right hand corners - although at the end of the session I felt better and this gives me hope of improving tomorrow.

He continued, “We are going to try to follow the same working strategy as today. In terms of the times, we aren't too far off Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Dani - and it's normal that the riders who were here for the test a fortnight ago are fast right from the get-go.

His teammate Pedrosa struggled with grip, despite being top factory bike, saying, "We had a few problems today with grip, which is something that some of the riders who rode here at the test two weeks ago had commented about before. 

There isn’t much grip on the track and that means we have to try to get the most out of the bike under these circumstances. We’ll see if the track improves with a little more rubber laid down, giving us more traction.”

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VR46 Riders Academy

 

 Valentino Rossi Has Opened The VR46 Riders Academy

Valentino Rossi that, with VR46, for the first time, makes available his experience and knowledge gained over many years of career.

The new talents of the VR46 Riders Academy will grow in Vale’s “gym", company and "Ranch", and right here, Vale will develop, for each of them, challenges on the track and exercises to enhance their qualities. The academy has six talents from Tavullia: Franco Morbidelli, Luca Marini, Andrea Migno, Nicolò Bulega, Romano Fenati and Pecco Bagnaia. The riders are trained together, but with specific programs prepared according to the different physical and psychological attitudes.

The VR46 Riders Academy has an experienced team. Alessio Salucci manages the relationship with the Teams, Alberto Tebaldi is responsible for logistics and external relations, Luca Brivio for the operational management of the riders at the CEV, Carlo Casabianca for the physical preparation, Claudio Sanchioni for the contractual aspects and Barbara Mazzoni for the secretarial and administrative services.

Racing is not just a matter of talent. For this reason, in addition to a very intense and focused physical and psychological preparation, VR46 Riders Academy is committed to ensuring both the best possible support and service – thanks to world-class chief technicians and mechanics - and a future as much as possible fitting with the characteristics of each pilot.

Salucci and Tebaldi recruited sponsors and Teams, appropriate for the characteristics of each rider. Franco Morbidelli will participate in the Moto2 World Championship with the Team Italtrans, Luca Marini and Andrea Migno will be part of theTeam Aspar for the CEV, together with Nicolò Bulega rider for the Team La Glisse. Fenati and Bagnaia run in Sky Racing Team VR46 for the Moto3 World Championship, the team created for the most talented riders of the two-wheels Academy.

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