Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi heads to the Sepang International Circuit with a chance at securing runner-up spot in the world championship from teammate Jorge Lorenzo.
The nine-time World Champion capped off a difficult weekend in Australia with a heroic rider through the field from 15th to finish on the podium in second, whilst Lorenzo struggled to sixth. This saw Rossi go 24 points clear of the Spaniard in the standings with just two races left this season.
Rossi has an excellent record at the Sepang International Circuit, the Yamaha rider tallying up an impressive six victories and five other podium finishes over the years. The Italian says that the Malaysian circuit is one of his favourites, though admits that the 20-lap race is gruelling affair due to the extreme heat and often unpredictable weather.
With 2016 marking – most probably – the last time we’ll see both Rossi and Lorenzo on equal machinery, and with the relationship between the pair now truly poisonous, there is a massive amount of pride at stake in their battle for second. For Rossi to seal runner-up spot this weekend he needs to score just two more points than Lorenzo, a top four result with the Spaniard behind him good enough for his third successive second place finish in the MotoGP World Championship.
“Sepang is one of my favourite tracks. I like it a lot, but it‘s also one of the most difficult races of the season due to the weather. It is always very hot and you must always be very careful with what you eat and drink,” said the Italian.
“The weekend in Malaysia is very demanding physically, but I‘m in good shape. The weekend on Phillip Island was very complicated but in the end we did a good race and I‘m happy for that. I hope that in Malaysia we can be able to work well again from the first practice. I would like to make it a good race and go to the podium another time.”
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