Riders speak ahead of Valencia MotoGP
The sold out Comunitat Valenciana – Ricardo Tormo circuit has played host to a number of dramatic end of season finale’s in the past, but surely the final round of the 2015 MotoGP season has to be one of the most anticipated races in the history of the World Championship. Here is what the riders had to say ahead of this weekend’s Valencia MotoGP 2015 Championship decider.
Valentino Rossi – “It will be a very intense weekend and also a very important one. I want to think just about what will happen at the track. My goal is to work at my best capabilities with my team and make the most of every session to get to the race on Sunday with everything I need to express myself in the best way possible. I’m still waiting to hear the decision of the CAS, but I hope I can do a normal GP to battle and fight for the title on equal terms with Jorge. In Valencia there will be so many fans and I’m glad for that. I’ll try to do my best on the track.”
Jorge Lorenzo – “We have arrived in Valencia after a very busy and exciting season. In Malaysia we got a good result and we recovered more points in the championship, but I will skip past all that happened there and stay focused in Cheste, where there is a lot at stake. I hope the fans will support us at home and that we will have a good race. This year I won the previous three races that were held in Spain and to do well in Valencia would be amazing. I’ve always noticed the warmth of the fans and I’m sure in Valencia we will enjoy a great show. I will give everything on the track to get this championship title.”
Marc Marquez – “It’s been a difficult week after what happened in Sepang but I’ve tried my best to put it behind me and concentrate on my training and looking forward to the final race of the season. We want to finish on a high note so we will work hard from Friday to get the bike setup well and give ourselves the best chance for the race. I’ve had mixed results here in the past but I enjoy racing here in front of the home fans. I hope the events of the past week can be put behind us and we can focus on the race.”
Dani Pedrosa – “It’s been a great but tiring few weeks. We’ve worked hard and won two races and this is something I couldn’t have imagined in Qatar at the beginning of the year. Now we arrive in Valencia for the final race of 2015 and it would be great to finish with another victory. I’ve had good results here in the past so I hope to be able to put on a good show in front of all the Spanish fans and fight for the win.”
Andrea Iannone – “The Valencia track is a favourable one for us: last year with the GP14 I led for the first ten laps and remained in the leading positions for the next 5, so I hope to be able to fight with the top guys again this year. I think that the GP15 has a good potential at Valencia and I will try to make up the two-point gap separating me from Pedrosa. For me it’s vitally important to finish fourth in the championship, so I will focus my race on Dani and try and finish ahead of him.”
Andrea Dovizioso – “We are going to Valencia with the firm intention of getting a good result, even though it’s not going to be easy because for the last few races my feeling with the GP15 hasn’t been the same as it was in the early part of the season. In any case I will give my all, as always, because I want to finish this season in the best possible way.”
Michele Pirro – “I am pleased to take part in the final race of the MotoGP season at Valencia, because for me it is very important to be able to confirm the progress of the GP15 and the form I showed at Misano, unfortunately only in practice. I want to make amends for the misfortune I had in the San Marino GP and I am confident I can have a good weekend.”
Cal Crutchlow – “We are really looking forward to this last race of the season, it has come around very fast! We’ve had a great season together as a team, I’m really pleased with their efforts and I’m hoping to finish with a good result here in Valencia this weekend in front of a spectacular crowd. We know Honda has been working very closely and well with our team and we are all looking forward to putting on a show for 30 laps. Hopefully that will help produce a great result for us.”
Jack Miller – “I’m really excited for the weekend. It’s one of my favourite tracks here in Valencia and I’ve been fast here in the past. It’s now a year on since I first rode the MotoGP bike and I’m looking forward to seeing how much we’ve improved. The weather so far looks really good and hopefully it will stay nice for the whole weekend and we can have a great weekend of racing. I’m very sad to be leaving the LCR Team, it’s an emotional time for us this weekend as it’s a family team, but I’m also looking forward to starting a new chapter of my life.”
Scott Redding – “If I could choose a circuit at which to end the season it wouldn’t be Valencia, as it’s always proved a difficult track for me. But it’s the same for everyone so we just need to knuckle down and work hard to make sure we go into FP3 on Saturday morning with the pace to push for an automatic entry into Q2. This is important, as the soft tyre will be an advantage on a track as small and tight as Valencia, so we don’t want to find ourselves having to fight against the open class bikes in Q1. It’s the last race of the season, and my last appearance for Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS, so it would be good to go out on a high note with a top ten finish this weekend.”
Aleix Espargaro – “The last races marked a positive improvement in the finalisation of the set-up of my machine and my feeling has got better and better since the difficulties I had after the mid-part of the season, but the results we had didn’t satisfy me completely. I feel that we are working hard and positively but we still miss something. The Valencia round will be the last one of the season and I definitely want to get a positive result, to pay back the efforts that me and my crew and the Factory put in this project. My expectations were to end the Championship in the top 10, but unfortunately I’m in 11th place right now but we have the 100-points target very close and I’m only six points away from the top 10, therefore there is still room for a positive end of the season. After the race we will start testing for 2016, it will be very interesting to see how we will manage the new tyres and new electronics, even though I want to take it step by step; first the race and then we think about the test.”
Maverick Viñales – “For sure I’m happy for having taken the Rookie of the Year title, even if it wasn’t my priority it is a good feeling. My objective for this year was not to focus on the classification but to learn as much as possible with the new class and the new machine; also being a Factory rider in a fully organised Factory team. This has been an amazing experience, I could learn a lot and I feel I still have much to gain, this keeping my ambition always high. The race in Valencia will be important as all the others, we are very close to the 100-points target and not so far from the top 10 in the Championship; it will be hard but it would be a good result after the positive season. I like the circuit, it could also be good for our machine’s layout and the fight will be very interesting. We have developed a way to approach the race that makes me feel comfortable, I like to work hard to prepare for the race and this is basically what we are going to do.”
Bradley Smith – “Next up is the season finale and I can’t wait to get going at Valencia where I fully intend to close this incredible year with a good result. My main objective is to complete the 30 lap sprint inside the top six so that I can clinch 6th in the championship standings and finish as the leading satellite rider. This will be super for me and the Tech3 Team and a testament to how hard we’ve all worked in 2015. I’ve had some strong performances at Valencia, which includes winning my last 125cc race, plus after achieving three decent results in the fly away GP’s, I am fully confident of doing a good job this weekend. The event is bound to be a memorable one and we definitely need to hit the ground running on Friday. The layout of the track doesn’t provide too many chances to overtake, so a solid qualifying performance will be crucial in order to be in a promising position for Sunday. Having said that, the weather there is always unpredictable and so we need to be ready for any circumstance. As far as I know the event is sold out and the grandstands will be packed, which will be great to see, therefore I am really looking forward to the last challenge of the year.”
Pol Espargaro – “I am looking forward to racing in front of my home fans at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, which is a track that I really enjoy riding on and one that always has an amazing atmosphere. However, I am under no illusions that this round will be easy, especially because I am nursing the neck injury from the Malaysia GP. I am still in pain and to be honest, that race was one of the toughest that I have ever had to ride. It marked a tricky end to the flyaway events, which were all quite challenging and for sure, I would have liked to finish those three races further up the order. However, we never gave up and pushed nonstop so now we will focus on Valencia and I am confident of riding to a solid result. Last year, I completed the GP in sixth, which was a positive way to end the season and even though this may be a bit tricky to repeat due to the competition as well as my injury, it is what I will be hoping for. Having said that, the fans support will really help me and motivate me even more. There will be thousands there and I will do my best to give them a good result to remember the race by. I know that we can conclude the year positively and I will fight through the pain and do my absolute best at Valencia with my Yamaha YZR-M1.”
Nicky Hayden – “Well it’s Valencia, the last race of the season! Valencia is a track I enjoy. It’s kind of small but I really like the atmosphere and the layout. It is a very tough track because you really have to hit your marks and put all of the corners together because each one kind of leads into the next. It’s also a place that holds great memories for me and we know this is going to be my last ride in MotoGP so I am looking forward to trying to have some fun there this weekend. I know it won’t be an easy weekend but I am desperate to leave with a smile and I am looking forward to it very much.”
Eugene Laverty – “The final round of the season brings us back to Europe after the three hectic flyaway races. I’m still a little concerned about the burn under my right foot from the Sepang race. The extent of the injury only became visible 72 hours after the race and these things take time to heal. Thankfully Valencia is an anti-clockwise circuit with just a few right hand turns so I hope that I can ride without too much discomfort. Valencia is the final race of the Open class category before the rule changes for 2016 and I’d love to be the rider to win it. The problem is that there are several others thinking the same thing! Valencia is the team’s home circuit and so that gives us extra motivation to go out and finish the season on a high.”
Alvaro Bautista – “The Valencia Grand Prix is a very special round, not only because it’s the last of the season, but also because we are back racing in Spain. Racing with my fans trackside is always a great feeling. This is the track where I first rode the Aprilia so we’ll have a few points of reference, but of course the bike we had then has changed a lot, so we’ll have to see how it performs now. The track has very slow turns, so above all we’ll need a bike that handles well and that can turn easily. It will definitely be a ‘hot’ weekend, but we’ll be moving forward with our development programme with the goal of finishing out the season with good sensations and, if possible, with a good result too.”
Stefan Bradl – “The Valencia track is a nice challenge for our bike since it is characterised by a layout with a lot of tight turns. In any case, I can’t wait to get onto the track. The good result we took at Sepang really has us pumped up so we’ll be arriving at the last round of the season with plenty of motivation. Obviously I hope to be able to finish another good weekend in order to close out the championship in the best way possible before focusing on 2016. Quite a big crowd is expected so there will definitely be a fantastic atmosphere!”
Loris Baz – “I’m going to Valencia motivated to do well. The Open Championship is still open, I have to recover five points in just one race, it will be difficult but I will do my best to say goodbye to the team in the best way possible.”
Toni Elias – “After the points gained at Sepang obviously the goal is to repeat ourselves. It will be difficult, but I finally managed to find a good feeling with the Yamaha Forward. In Valencia I’ll do everything to hit the Top15 again in order to thank the team for this great opportunity.”
