New Straits Times

DUO HOPE FOR BETTER FORM

Rossi, Vinales arrive in France with positive mind after disappoint­ing finish in Jerez

- MAVERICK VINALES

LE MANS and Rossi trailing home in 10th as Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez sealed a one-two finish for Honda.

“After the difficulti­es during the Jerez weekend, the Le Mans GP will be very important,” said Rossi, who finished on the podium in each of the opening three races before his Spanish travails.

“It is true that we are still first in the championsh­ip standings, and this is nice for us, but we need to improve the bike to be really competitiv­e,” added the 38-year-old, who is a three-time winner at Le Mans.

Vinales hopes the return to the site of his first MotoGP top-three finish a year ago, when he was still with Suzuki, can spark a quick recovery.

“The race in Jerez was very difficult for us,” admitted the Spaniard. “Luckily during the test on Monday in Jerez we had a totally different result, it was a really good test.

“For that reason we’re arriving in France with a positive mind. Le Mans is a good track for us, it suits my riding style, and we can

The race in Jerez was very difficult for us.

do a really good job there.”

Over 100,000 fans are expected to flock to Le Mans for the race weekend, with French rookie Johann Zarco set to garner plenty of attention after making a seamless step up from the Moto2 category.

“I have the chance to really impress the general public in MotoGP. That wasn’t the case in Moto2 despite my two titles,” said Zarco. AFP

 ??  ?? Valentino Rossi leads the MotoGP championsh­ip with 62 points after four rounds.
Valentino Rossi leads the MotoGP championsh­ip with 62 points after four rounds.
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