Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) arrives at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España in seventh place in the World Championship, with the aim to get on the rostrum to close the gap to his rivals in the overall standings.
The Circuito de Jerez is a track Rossi has great history on, winning here on nine occasions across all classes during his career in the Grand Prix paddock. A perfect venue then – on paper at least – for the number 46 to get his second podium of the season, as Rossi targets a better weekend than he and his team had at Jerez in 2017.
“I'm happy to come back to Europe, the first races of the season didn’t go very well but we tried something positive. Our M1 is improving and now we arrive at Jerez, a very important track to understand our potential. Last year we struggled a lot, but this year I think we can be better.”
The nine-time World Champion, after a positive weekend in Austin, is hoping he can stand on the podium in Jerez this weekend. Meanwhile, Rossi also acknowledges he and his team will need to work hard to understand how the M1 works on a newly surfaced Jerez circuit.
“Jerez is a circuit that I like very much, I have had some good races here and I would be happy to be back on the podium. Together, me and my team, we'll work hard to find the best set-up and understand the behavior of the bike with the new asphalt.”
Can the 39-year-old take his tenth victory in Andalusia, and complete his lap of the world? Tune in for the first MotoGP™ Free Practice session, which gets underway at 09:55 local time (GMT +2) to see how he gets on.