Thursday, 18 July 2013

For Valentino Rossi, this weekend’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix comes off the back of a pair of podium finishes in The Netherlands and Germany, with the first having marked his return as a winner in MotoGP™. Ahead of the Laguna Seca race, however, the nine-time World Champion is eager to improve his situation.

Despite finishing third at the Sachsenring last weekend, behind Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, Rossi was quick to point out that he is in need of a further improvement in order to continue challenging.

"Laguna is a very special track," the Italian begins. "It is very important to me because it is the track where I had one of the best races in my career, in 2008. Apart from that time I always seem to suffer there so I hope to go and do a better job this time. We have made good progress and are now fighting closer to the front, but we need to make another step to fight for more victories."

Since Laguna Seca returned to the calendar in 2005, Rossi has won on the aforementioned occasion of 2008 as well as collecting further podium finishes in 2005, 2009 and 2010.