Valentino Rossi, the reigning MotoGP champion, will be chasing victory in the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, but can he make a win at Mugello stick despite increasing pressure from the Hondas?
Valentino Rossi, the reigning MotoGP champion, will be chasing victory in the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, but can he make a win at Mugello stick despite increasing pressure from the Hondas?
The Doctor arrives at his home circuit in the best form – after winning three of the opening four rounds of the season he leads the championship by a commanding 37 points over Marco Melandri.
He has an equally impressive record in front of his home crowd – Rossi has won the last three Mugello rounds of the MotoGP riding for both Yamaha and Honda.
Compatriot Melandri has been Rossi’s biggest threat this season, and the new Movistar Honda rider has already secured two podium finishes for his new team. His team-mate, Sete Gibernau, has had a less promising start to the season and is third on the log, five points behind Melandri.
Gibernau holds both the fastest lap and pole records at the Italian circuit, and again hopes a change of fortune will help him secure a victory. He remains just six points ahead of Repsol Honda’s Max Biaggi, who won in the 250cm3 class for three years in a row from 1995 to 1997.
The only rider to have defeated Rossi in 2005 is Camel Honda’s Alex Barros, who finished on top at a damp Estoril in April. The Brazilian is another rider to who has previously been victorious at the Italian circuit.
Colin Edwards, the former World Superbike Champion, has already captured a spot on the podium this season, and would want to add another accolade to his name.
The Ducati Marlboro team will also be competing “at home” this weekend, and all eyes will be fixed on Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa, who have been plagued by injuries and crashes throughout the early part of the season. However, the team does hope that the long straight and fast chicanes of Mugello, one of the fastest tracks on the circuit, will favour the power of its machines.
Japanese rider Shinya Nakano has been in tremendous form this year on the new Kawasaki ZX-RR, and his team-mate, Alex Hofmann, joins him in Italy for the first time since being sidelined by injuries sustained in his crash at Estoril.
Honda rider Makoto Tamada makes his return, too, after undergoing intensive therapy following his race injury, also sustained in Portugal. Jurgen Van Den Goorbergh and Olivier Jacque (who made a great impression on the Honda team) replaced the injured riders in the last two rounds.
One rider who will not be in action this weekend is MotoGP rookie Toni Elias, who crashed during tests following the French Grand Prix and injured his left wrist and forearm.
The Yamaha rider will be replaced by Carlos Checa, the reigning World Endurance Champion and younger brother of Ducati Marlboro’s Carlos Checa.
