Joining MotoGP™ commentator Matt Birt via video call, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammates Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales had plenty of laughs and light-hearted chat, with a particular topic bringing doing just that.
While competing in the Moto2™ and Moto3™ World Championships respectively, Viñales and Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller shared a motorhome. A scary prospect, right? Two teenagers travelling the world together, racing motorcycles and sharing accommodation… “In 2014 and the beginning of ’15 we shared a motorhome. It was fun,” explained Viñales. “We were organised and we slept the hours we needed to, that was important. We were okay.”
But then the question was proposed to both Viñales and Rossi: what’s more dangerous, sharing a motorhome with Miller or racing a MotoGP™ bike at 350km/h? Both – jokingly – agreed sharing a motorhome with the Australian would be more dangerous, with Miller well-known for enjoying a joke or two from time to time. And while the Yamaha riders were on the subject of their premier class counterpart, they were then asked how hard it was to see the Ducati man still being able to get out on his motocross bikes Down Under.
“I’m honestly not jealous. I’m happy for him because at least he has the opportunity to ride a bike. He’s on his own farm and it’s beautiful. I’m honestly happy for him because the place looks beautiful,” said Viñales.
“He’s very good to follow. This is the advantage of living in big places where you have a lot of room, like Australia or America. I follow a lot of the American Flat Track riders like JD Beach who also has a farm with a motocross track, so for us it’s a bit more difficult, but we have the ranch, it’s been closed for a month now but we hope that next week we can re-start doing some training,” added Rossi.
Hopefully it’s not too long before we see Rossi, Viñales, Miller and all the other riders out on track together.