Yamaha in Japan: Rossi believes he can be competitive in the last races of the season

The official Yamaha riders approach the Japanese GP with optimism finally recovered after good results at the GP of Thailand. Rossi even assures that if the bike confirms the progress made at Buriram this weekend, it will be competitive in the last three races of the season…. Explanations.

"After the GP of Thailand, I returned to Italy because I didn’t want to stay away from home for five weeks in a row," said Valentino Rossi, 3rd in 22 points behind. "I spent a week at home and trained for all three races in a row. In Japan I’m pretty optimistic, I think I can be good here too.".

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"The Motegi is a circuit that I like and which generally succeeds me", continues the Doctor, winner of the Japanese GP in 2001 at Suzuka and in Motegi. He also placed second in 2000, 2002 and Suzuka as well as,, and finally third in and. "I hope it will be dry because it has been raining all the time. We’ll see how the next three races go, not just this weekend’s in Japan".

"If we really improved the bike last time (in Thailand, Yamaha placed three of its bikes in, and places, Editor’s note), we should be competitive on the next three Grands Prix", warns the nine-time world champion who hears keep your third place in the final standings…

Progress related to tires or the new configuration ?

His teammate Maverick Viñales approaches the Japanese GP with the same optimism. "After the GP of Thailand, I said to myself that races and weekends like this should be the norm for us. We were back in our place".

"We made a positive change on the bike (editor’s note), I felt very good and the team worked well. Finally, we are reaping the fruits of our work! The small changes on the bike are finally paying off ", rejoices the Spaniard, stressing that his strong point in Thailand was his speed of passage in turns. Again, the tires available at Buriram were not as usual and that may have helped me too ".

"On the other hand, we also changed the weight distribution and that also played a role. I’m very curious to ride Motegi to see if it was related to the tires or to the new configuration", concludes Viñales, confirming Rossi’s hopes: if it is the bike that has improved, it will be necessary to reckon with the Yamaha at the end of the season !

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