In Thursday’s preliminary press conference ahead of the Gran Premio TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez was joined by Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci to address the media.
On the back of his Silverstone victory, which edged him closer to retaining the MotoGP title, Repsol Honda rider Marquez previewed the Misano weekend saying, “It will be tough here, especially with Valentino at home. Jorge is getting stronger every time and he has been very strong here. Dani (Pedrosa) also, he’s second in the championship, so I have to manage the gap over him. If we can fight for the victory it’s what we’ll do.”
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP man Rossi is truly on home territory this weekend, with his home town of Tavullia being just a few kilometres from the circuit. He stated, “I’m happy about the start of the second half of the season. Jorge and Marc are very strong and Jorge is coming back very strong. They had a bit more in Silverstone than us so the target is to start strong from Friday. It’s the home GP so there are great emotions as it is very close to my house. It’s a good track for me and Yamaha. Jorge won the last three years so we know we can be there.”
For his part, Lorenzo is not counting on his previous excellent results at Misano to give him a head start over his rivals. “The past doesn’t give you any advantage for this year, so we all start from zero. I don’t why it works well for us, maybe the chicanes or the fast corners. Hopefully we can keep the tradition alive.”
For Ducati Team rider Dovizioso as an Italian rider on an Italian bike he will have plenty of support this weekend. He noted, “In Silverstone we were very close to the podium so we have to start aggressively here from FP1. With the hard spec tyre we made a test here before Silverstone and our pace was great.”
For MotoGP rookie Redding of the GO&FUN Honda Gresini team it is another chance to ride for the first time at the circuit on a premier class machine. The Open Honda equipped Englishman said, “I thought Silverstone would be really hard but it was ok. Hopefully here will be good, we should be able to make up a bit with the soft tyre. The limit in MotoGP is crazy, there is no limit. I’m still building and building. You think you’re there for a minute then someone catches you and you have to push more.”
The third Italian rider to speak in the press conference was Octo IodaRacing Team’s Petrucci, who acknowledged, “It’s my third year in MotoGP. I made a step from the first to the second year, but I stepped backwards this year! It’s very difficult this year and we started at the first race with a lot of problems. The bike is really new. Then I broke my wrist and I still have to go to the Clinica after every session. It’s tough.”
On Wednesday evening many of the World Championship’s riders battled on four wheels in the annual ‘Spurtlèda58’ karting contest, helping to boost the Marco Simoncelli foundation ONLUS. Rossi was the winner of the event, joined on the podium by Marquez and Dovizioso.