MotoGP – Brno – Valentino Rossi, the title is ever closer

Today Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi, with his victory in the eleventh round of the 2005 season in Brno, is the first rider in the history of MotoGP to win nine Grands Prix for five consecutive seasons. Rossi's incredible new feat was characterized by an intense battle with Sete Gibernau (Honda), with an incredible finish that saw Rossi prevail over his rival at the end of the penultimate lap. Gibernau tried to regain the lead, but while Rossi preceded him in the final series of corners, the Spanish driver's faint hopes of launching the decisive attack were completely canceled out by a technical problem which forced him to retire.

While Loris Capirossi (Ducati) and Max Biaggi (Honda) took advantage of Gibernau's misfortune and thus climbed onto the podium, Gauloises Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards finished in seventh position, after a difficult race which once again saw the rider American struggling with grip problems on the rear of his Yamaha YZR-M1. Despite his disappointment, Edwards remains in the battle for second place in the championship standings, trailing Biaggi just six points behind and with still six races to go. Meanwhile, Rossi could already secure the world title at the next race in Motegi in case of victory or second place.

VALENTINO ROSSI (1st; 43'56.539)

“This was one of the most difficult races of the season. After the warm-up I saw Sete's times and I wasn't sure I could beat him in the race. I had confidence in the bike, but I knew I was a little slower than him. I spoke to Jeremy Burgess and asked him for some changes to the bike to get a better compromise for the whole race and, as always, he and the team worked 100% to improve the situation. There were many fast riders on the track but Gibernau was the strongest rival and so I tried to put pressure on him from the start. It was a beautiful battle with lots of overtaking. Halfway through the race, I tried to leave but Sete approached again. In the end I did three or four good laps, set the pace for Sete and then did a perfect last lap. Unfortunately Sete had a problem and it was really bad luck for him, because he deserved to get on the podium. However, I am happy with this victory and now we only need one more for the title, but it's not all over yet."

COLIN EDWARDS (7rd; +13.532)

“I started well, but after five laps I was in trouble. We changed the geometry of the bike slightly after the warm-up but the track temperature was warmer than expected for the race and we put a little too much load on the front of the bike. As had already happened at Mugello, the bike slipped all over the place and I had no grip on the rear. I pushed on the footrests, I stood up, I moved backwards... I did everything I could to glue it to the ground! The good thing is that we have two days of testing where we can work on some of these issues and try to resolve them. We haven't tested again since Le Mans, so it will be useful to have the chance to put in a lot of hours on the track without having the pressure of the race, as we prepare for a difficult end to the season.”

DAVIDE BRIVIO – GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR

“I want to congratulate and thank the whole team, in particular Valentino's engineers because they followed his requests for modifications to the bike exactly and then gave him the package that allowed him to achieve today's victory. He made the bike work and gave the fans an incredible show with Sete Gibernau, who deserved to be on the podium today. Now Valentino has a good lead in the standings and we go to Motegi with the intention of achieving the same result. Unfortunately Colin couldn't do better than seventh place, but the fight for second place in the standings is still open and he scored some valuable points today. We will look for solutions with him during the tests and then we will go to Japan in three weeks.”

Yamaha MotoGP