Yamaha leads the way to Indy

From Yamaha Racing

The MotoGP World Championship heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in its history this weekend, fittingly with the equal most successful rider of all-time leading the groundbreaking pilgrimage to one of motorsport's most iconic venues.

Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi leveled Giacomo Agostini's record of premier-class wins with his 68th career success at Misano, extending his championship advantage over Casey Stoner to 75 points, whilst his rookie teammate Jorge Lorenzo made it a team one-two.

It means that Rossi needs to outscore Stoner by a single point at Indy to set up his first title match-point in the following round at Motegi, Japan.

"It's very exciting to be going to Indianapolis, such a famous and historical place for motorsport, but it's obvious from reports that it's going to be quite a difficult race for everyone," Rossi said. "Of course we have no data but we're also expecting the surface to be quite tricky for the tires. I hope the track is safe, we know the walls are quite close in some places but hopefully it won't be a problem. We will find out on Friday."

The legendary American circuit, which plays host to two of the largest-attended sporting events in the world - the Indy 500 and Allstate 400 car races - now welcomes the two-wheeled phenomena of Rossi-mania and the 'Lorenshow', with the pair keen to make their mark with a dazzling performance.

"As far as I'm concerned, I just want to keep in a good run of form and stay at the level we found at San Marino, where everything worked as we'd hoped once again," Lorenzo said. "The whole team and myself have to focus throughout all four sessions because they will be crucial to prepare for the race. There are five rounds until the end of the world championship and we have to keep fighting to meet our objectives. This is the first of a difficult run of races outside Europe."

Much will hinge on the adaptability of bikes and especially tires at a circuit the engineers have no previous data for. A crucial factor will be track temperature, although it looks certain to be much cooler than recent events at Laguna Seca, Brno and in particular Misano, where the late European summer sunshine brought ambient temperatures of 35ºC, heating the asphalt to 48ºC. At Indianapolis average temperatures in September range from highs of around 25ºC to lows touching 13ºC.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the largest spectator sporting facility in the world, with 257,000 permanent seats. Originally constructed in 1909 with a 2.5-mile oval, an exciting 16-turn motorcycle road circuit, which includes part of the historic oval, has been purpose-built for this weekend's event.