Dotcom wades in to the rescue as Team NZ struggles to breathe

Defending champion Lorenzo gunning to upset Marquez again

MADRID: Defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo has Marc Marquez in his sights as he looks to eat into his compatriot’s lead atop the championship standings at the Aragon Grand Prix beginning today.

Marquez has had a sensational debut season in MotoGP as the 20year-old has won five races on his way to amassing a 34-point lead over both Lorenzo and Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

However, Lorenzo has battled back from surgery on a broken collarbone, which forced him to miss the Dutch GP back in June, to win the last two races in Britain and San Marino.

And the Yamaha rider is hoping that improvements to his bike added to a return to full health will see him make it a hat-trick of wins in the third of the four calendar races in Spain.

“I’m really looking forward to going to Aragon because at that track we did a very good test before the Assen Grand Prix,” he told the Yahama Factory Racing website.

“In those tests we were the fastest and now we have an even better bike. I’m looking forward to getting to know our new level at the circuit.

“I feel very good physically and also the last Misano test went very well for us, so I’m going to Aragon feeling positive.”

The Motorland Circuit, however, is one of the few tracks where Lorenzo has never experienced victory with last season’s second place his best finish in three tries since its inauguration in 2010.

Marquez, however, has tasted victory in Aragon as a Moto2 rider back in 2011 and is looking forward to a first MotoGP ride on a track he describes as amongst his favourites.

“It will be nice to return to race in Aragon in front of our home fans this weekend,” Marquez said.

“The circuit is one of my favourites. It has two very technical sectors to start and then at the end you need to go very hard on the corners.”

However, it was Pedrosa who emerged victorious in last season’s visit to Motorland and he is still very much in the hunt for his first world championship title.

The 27-year-old also won in Malaysia, Japan and Valencia last year, three of the other four races that are still to come this season.

And he is hoping that an encouraging testing session after his third place at Misano a fortnight ago will result in a first win since May.

“We had a test session the Monday after Misano and we found some positive things that I hope will help us here in Motorland, especially coming out of the corners. We need to wait and see what happens.”

It hasn’t been a vintage season for seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi as he has trailed the Spanish trio for the majority of the campaign, including four consecutive fourth placed finishes.

However, he is still eager to challenge the Hondas and Yamaha teammate Lorenzo.

“After doing a test, I am always very curious to go to the next race. The Misano test was very positive.

“We improved various aspects so I want to see if we are able to make a further step on race,” he said.

“My goal is always to fight with Jorge, Dani and Marc. In recent tests done at Aragon, Jorge and I made good times with the M1.

“The bike worked well so we are eager to go on to this circuit.” — AFP WELLINGTON: Emirates Team New Zealand - facing a struggle to stay afloat after their epic failure in the America’s Cup - was offered an unlikely financial lifeline yesterday from Internet mogul Kim Dotcom.

Thesailingteamfaces the prospect of losing their public funding in the wake of this week’s loss to Oracle Team USA, when they squandered an 8-1 lead to lose the regatta 8-9 in a result that has been described as one of the biggest chokes in sporting history.

With Prime Minister John Key refusing to guarantee that the government will repeat the US$30mil (RM97mil) contribution it made to Team NZ’s San Francisco campaign, Dotcom said he was ready to step into the breach.

“Prime Minister John Key says no morefundingforTeamNZ? Isay#Mega will become a Team NZ sponsor & we will win next time. #AmericasCup,” tweeted the flamboyant businessman, who is on bail in Auckland awaiting an extradition hearing on US charges of online piracy.

Dotcom’s offer may have been tongue-in-cheek, as he estimates his legal bills will top US$50mil (RM161.5mil), but the chances of the New Zealand taxpayer bankrolling another Team NZ tilt at sailing’s top prize are equally slim, according to commentators.

The public money was granted on the prospect of New Zealand winning the Cup and receiving a NZ$500mil (RM1.39bil) economic boost when it hosted the next edition of the glamour regatta in Auckland.

The Dominion Post newspaper said that Team NZ had done the country proud against a heavily favoured American rival backed by the financial might of Oracle software billionaire Larry Ellison.

“Kiwi sports fans have enjoyed a wild ride,” it said in an editorial. “But the government should quit the field and leave it to those rich and foolish enough to tackle the world’s fifth richest man (Ellison).”

The New Zealand Herald took a similar tack, saying Auckland had already benefited from hosting the Cup in 2000 and again in 2003, with much of the city’s waterfront redeveloped and a high-tech sailing industry emerging in the country then.

It said there was little more to be gained from hosting the regatta again, adding: “No matter where the Cup goes, our marine industry and sailors have made their reputations with it.”

Another cloud on the horizon for Team NZ is the likely departure of managing director Grant Dalton, who has been at the helm for a decade and is credited with raising the corporate and government funds that made the 2013 challenge possible.

After the shattering loss in San Francisco, he admitted he lacked the energy for another campaign and raised doubts the 100-strong team, which includes specialist designers, engineers and boatbuilders as well as sailors, could be kept together.

“I always felt that it would be difficult for the team to stay together, particularly financially. There’s probably the will there but I’ve probably done my time,’’ he told reporters.— AFP