Rossi wary of Catalunya first corner

Valentino Rossi is confident the new MotoGP practice start rule should help take away part of the danger posed by Catalunya’s perilous first corner.

The first corner of last year’s race saw one of the biggest crashes in recent memory, with Sete Gibernau, Loris Capirossi and Marco Melandri all forced out of a restarted race through injury.

The carnage was prompted when then factory Ducati team-mates Gibernau and Capirossi collided in the braking area for the right right-hand first turn.
Both crashed out, while Melandri, Randy de Puniet, Dani Pedrosa and John Hopkins also crashed in the ensuring chaos.

But Rossi is confident that a repeat of last year’s horror crash will be avoided now that riders are allowed to practice starts from the front row of the grid before the 20-minute Sunday morning warm-up.

Rossi said that gives riders the chance to gauge their speed on arrival at the first corner in preparation for Sunday’s 25-lap race.

Rossi branded Catalunya’s first corner one of the most dangerous on the calendar and said: “Last year was a bad, bad accident. And at the end it’s quite good because all the riders are injured but not too much. I think its because this first corner is one of the most dangerous in the championshi because its quite tight and you arrive at a high speed. Everybody has to keep attention and not forget to brake. With the new rule we test the start in the warm-up from the grid to try to understand the speed and the gear you arrive in the first corner to try and not make the same mistake.”

Rossi goes into Sunday’s race looking to further slash Casey Stoner’s world championship lead. His win in Mugello last weekend saw him close to within nine-points of the Australian and Catalunya is arguably a better circuit for him than his home venue.

Rossi will be chasing a ninth win in Barcelona and a sixth in MotoGP.