Yesterday’s press conference at Brno was the first opportunity for Valentino Rossi to comment on the rumours flying around about his possible move to Honda next year. Commenting that his “new manager” Marco Melandri appeared to know more about his movements than he did, Rossi confirmed that he would be at Ducati in 2012. “I read about something from my new manager, the Superbike rider Marco Melandri, who knows everything about my decision for next year!” “Joking aside, I will race for Ducati next year for sure. It is not in doubt. The contract is signed and the situation is 100 percent fixed. So for sure I will race with Ducati – if Melandri agrees!”
He also played dumb when he was asked about the possibility of Ducati adopting a aluminium spar frame to replace the contentious C/F sub-frame, shrugging his shoulders and pretending not to know what the journalists meant.
Rossi will be hoping for better things this weekend as Brno is the scene of his first-ever Grand prix victory on his 125 in 1996. Sadly the practice times from yesterday don’t seem to providing much encouragement.
For an insight into the track and what the riders have to face, here’s Karel Abraham’s track notes.
(graphic courtesy of Asphalt & Rubber)
The press conference yesterday also gave Casey Stoner the opportunity to announce that his wife, Adrianna is expecting their first child and to clarify that his impending fatherhood was weighing heavily on his mind when he took the hardline stance he took in regard to the October Japanese Grand prix. He also said that he was now reconsidering his decision and would announce what he was going to do shortly.
Jorge Lorenzo will be wearing a new helmet design this weekend heavily influenced by the cult film, “Top Gun.”
I guess that Maverick Vinales wouldn’t be real happy about that, but he’s locked in to his Paris Hilton design at the moment so I guess it won’t matter.
