Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi are heading to Jerez de La Frontera hoping to prove that Honda’s remarkable perfomance in Austin a forthnight ago was only due to the peculiar layout of the brand new Texan circuit.
Reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo is currently topping the standings alongside Honda’s rising star Marc Marquez, and on a circuit that’s usually good for his Yamaha YZR-M1 the Spaniard is willing to put on quite some show for his hordes of fans.
Lorenzo’s record in Jerez is actually pretty impressive, with two 250cc wins in 2006 and 2007 and a further two premier class victories in 2010 and 2011 and second place last year at +0.
947 from winner Casey Stoner.
No wonder he’s pretty confident:“We arrive in Jerez, a nice track that is really special for all the Spanish riders involved in this Championship and always supported by the huge crowd on the grandstands.
We have to keep calm and think about the Championship because it is so long.
Normally Jerez is a better track for Yamaha but you never know with this level of riding where you are going to find your best circuit.
Jerez is smaller than Austin and the straight is much shorter, this will give us less disadvantage.
The flowing corners will also help us a lot.
Jerez is one of my favourite tracks and we will be competitive there for sure.
”
Valentino Rossi’s record at Jerez is actually even more impressive than his team-mate’s: six premier class wins and two additional victories in the 125cc and 250cc classes, with nine podium finishes out of 13 starts.
The nine-time World Champion is currently fourth in the standings, 11 points behind the two leaders and 3 points adrift of Dani Pedrosa’s third spot, and he’s obviously hoping to exploit his excellent feeling with one of his favourite tracks to move further up the table:”Jerez will be a very important race.
I believe and hope that we can be very fast as we have been in testing.
We will have to work well and aim for the podium.
We still have something to do, especially for the set up of the bike but we have some ideas.
Furthermore on Monday after the race we will be testing there and we’ll have the opportunity to try different things.
Jerez, Le Mans and Mugello are all circuits that are favourable to us and where we will be fine.
”