Rossi's team guaranteed MotoGP grid slot, says Ezpeleta
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I don't know how I feel about this. Obviously it's not surprising that they'll change the rules for Rossi, they always do. Having said that more competitive bikes on the grid is always good. I do worry where this will leave tech 3 though. After years of sticking with Yamaha, I hope Yamaha and Rossi don't .... Herve in the ....
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If I'm Poncharal, I'm talking with Suzuki about getting two satellite bikes for the 2019 season. Rossi having a team on the grid is a done deal as far as I'm concerned. It will just be a matter of which season the team starts with.
I'm going to make the prediction now that if it is for 2019 that the VR46 GP team debuts, Lorenzo will be on one of the bikes.
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JLo on a satellite bike! Mate that would be taking the piss. There is no way a Rossi team would be the official factory bike. Can you imagine the negatives to Yamaha bike sales.
If I was Herve I'd stick my iron bar in his wheel, after all he is in the MotoGP setup.
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No doubt Ezpeleta knows why he says things, but Rossi is not interested in fielding a MotoGP team next year. He wants to grow young riders, not manage mature ones. His riders are in Moto3 and Moto2 atm and they need time to grow. Morbidelli is the only one who could be ready for the jump already in 2018, but he is more of a Honda man and would probably go with a Honda team.
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I don't think J-Lo will ever get back to the factory M1 to be honest. Satellite would be his best chance of having a decent ride as the other factory bikes save Suzuki partially wouldn't give him a real shot. I know KTM is aiming big, but I honestly do not see them making the kind of strides to battle the Honda/Yamaha position at top of the pyramid.
Regarding bike sales and Rossi, I have never seen anything in Yamaha's investor information on sales being impacted negatively or positively by Valentino Rossi rididng the Yamaha M1. Mind you, while there are people who definitely will buy a Yamaha because of Rossi, the sales due to Rossi are minimal. When he left for Ducati in 2011, Yamaha sales were down globally. However it had to do with Southeast Asia and the flooding and economic problems going on in the region that the sales decrease was attributed to.
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This wouldn't be for 2018 though. 2019 or a little later.
I don't think Rossi will quit for the 2019 season. On a factory Yamaha he will still be competitive enough to stick around. His age isn't much of a factor IMO, this isn't a sport where the wear and tear on your body stops your body reacting as fast as your mind, so I don't see why he would stop being competitive because he hits 40. .... me Wlad Kilitschko is still very competitive in a sport that relies on youth more than motorcycle racing at 41. He's only 8 wins away from equaling Ago and that's a very achievable goal on 4 years.
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TBO I don't think Rossi would make a good team manager and it'd be even worse if Lorenzo was in that team, after all you have 2 very contentious people there and I can see sparks flying, plus I don't think they like each other and respect isn't enough.
One other thing Dorna go on about getting more manufacturers involved, if they are to do that where to you end the numbers on the grid? Would be okay to have a grid like Moto3?
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It's old news...
I mentioned it before.
With manufacturers limited to 2 factory and 2 satellite bikes in the near future, the big loser will be Tech3 as Rossi will have the 2 Yamaha satellites
I mentioned it before.
With manufacturers limited to 2 factory and 2 satellite bikes in the near future, the big loser will be Tech3 as Rossi will have the 2 Yamaha satellites
Shove, any chance he will be figurehead of the Factory Team whilst running the Satellites?
I have always expected him to remain involved with Factory Yamaha so fully expect that the satellite that you mention will be a sensational bike, but I still wonder if he will have a figurehead type of role across the lot.
You being closer may have an insight, plus we did read it here first
As for Tech3 being the big loser, that is (whilst expected) very unfortunate for them given their loyalty to Yamaha (and conversely, Yamaha's loyalty) but to be fair, few of the Tech3 riders have gravitated to the Factory bikes (have any?) where I suspect a Rossi run team would be a factory feeder (thus why I expect the figurehead role)
I have always expected him to remain involved with Factory Yamaha so fully expect that the satellite that you mention will be a sensational bike, but I still wonder if he will have a figurehead type of role across the lot.
You being closer may have an insight, plus we did read it here first
As for Tech3 being the big loser, that is (whilst expected) very unfortunate for them given their loyalty to Yamaha (and conversely, Yamaha's loyalty) but to be fair, few of the Tech3 riders have gravitated to the Factory bikes (have any?) where I suspect a Rossi run team would be a factory feeder (thus why I expect the figurehead role)
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I think he would make a better team manager than people realize. He's incredibly intelligent with motorcycle racing and that's a huge asset if you're working with riders. Makes for better feedback to the mechanics/engineers. As a team manager, Valentino wants to win, and if he isn't riding, he will want the best rider he can get his hands on to ride for him IMO.
I don't think a Moto 3 grid size would be good or possible given the costs involved. But you could go past what Formula 1's max grid is (26) up to maybe 30? They used to get up near that number or more maybe during the 1980s 500cc world championship I thought? What do you think a good cap would be?
Agreed JPS,
For mine, not just his knowledge of racing itself, the tracks, the bikes but one of the biggest benefits that he could bring would be his nous within the political machinations of the sport.
No, that does not mean that he knows how to go about seeking favouritism (before any jump in), but rather he knows how to position himself (as manager) and the team in a manner such that he does not upset the organisation or manufacturers but is seen as a worthwhile positive ast his simply opens doors.
He knows how to play sponsors and he will attract plenty, as after all, very few businesses would not want to be associated with brand Rossi.
IMO only here, but any team that he ran would be one of the wealthiest in terms of publicity and income.
I don't think Lorenzo riding for Rossi is out of the realm of possibilities. Their issues will be resolved as soon as Rossi stops racing. Lorenzo wants to be on the best bike possible, if Repsol isn't an option(not totally counting that out once Pedrosa is gone and Lorenzo could offer amazing insure to help make the Honda smoother) and Vinaeles somehow vetoes Lorenzo going back to a factory Yamaha, Lorenzos best option might be a fully factory backed m1. Rossi knows Lorenzos mental toughness and drive is pretty much second to none and they both want to win. Although this may be getting ahead of things he will absolutely as a team manager do everything in his power including hiring riders he may have had a difficult past with to stop Marquez getting to 8 titles. Because truthfully if Vinaeles can't stop Marquez this year with his bike advantage then there's no reason to believe he will be able to once the Honda is fully sorted with their engine/acceleration issues in the future and there appears no one on the horizon that is more capable that Maverick other than a fully comfortable Lorenzo.
Edit to add: I'm sure that Rossi could attract sponsors to pay big money for top level talent such as Lorenzo.
Edit to add: I'm sure that Rossi could attract sponsors to pay big money for top level talent such as Lorenzo.
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Is that how you interpreted what was very clearly explained to you to be a discussion about 'hypotheticals'?
The question is 'would he want to'?
I ask as he has his feeder class teams and so why not use that talent in his higher team?
Yes, when starting up getting a larger name may be advantageous but is there a possibility that in 2019 Rossi will start up (Team Rossi MotoGP) with full factory backing and move himself into the team along with one of his Moto2 riders?
Let us not overlook that the old man is himself, still a very competitive rider
It's all hypothetical right now because we don't know if he even wants a GP team. I do suspect going on his own comments if riding in his own team was possible he would've already done it. He might be completely happy with just working in the smaller classes and that might make him the perfect guy as a team manager if Yamaha wanted to make a start in the moto3 class and compete with Honda/KTM. I would have to say that having Rossi involved in a moto3 project if they wanted to do it would be advantageous because he could test the bike and give better feedback than any rider they could employ not to mention he would be a huge asset in a private test as well for their MotoGP team. To me he is a greater asset to the sport and Yamaha if he is working in the smaller classes.
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Post 29 of yours was trying to make a case for why it was less a hypothetical and more a likely outcome, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered posting news stories trying to provide actual support to a purportedly "hypothetical" conversation.
The point still remains the same: it is kind of hard for Pons to field a satellite Suzuki when the only open grid spot belongs to LCR.
I agree. Whilst taking others to task on the basis of what he googles and selectively posts 10 years after events actually observed by those others, ludicrous completely non evidence based speculations by JKant are merely "hypotheticals".
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Just more of the typical moving goalposts silliness that really makes it difficult to have a conversation since you never know what the debate is going to be morphed into on his end.
I had stated the conversation was about hypotheticals based on the existing grid situation. Instead he attempted to turn it into a discussion about Lorenzo perhaps going to a mythical non-existent Pons team fielding Suzuki satellite machines...while ignoring that in the time since that Moto 2 outfit last ran premier class machinery, we have seen 800cc engines come and we're on the 2nd engine formula since the 990cc era. Then there is the simple inescapable reality that LCR owns the only available grid spot , which of course counters his Googling ability to find a couple of rumors that were reported by MotoGP news websites about Pons possibly running a satellite machine. And as is, there really seems to be question about Dorna's commitment to expanding beyond 24 grid spots unless it's to benefit a Rossi-run team as was mentioned by Ezpeleta.
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