Australia MotoGP: Valentino Rossi eyes title boost

Valentino Rossi told MCN that he aims to pounce on a bad Phillip Island weekend so far for MotoGP title rival and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Rossi starts tomorrow’s 27-lap race with an 18-point lead over Lorenzo in the title hunt and crucially the Italian has easily outpaced his team-mate throughout the Australian GP weekend.

And the 30-year-old said it is vital that he pounces on Lorenzo’s struggles with a stomach bug and rear grip issues to move closer to claiming a seventh MotoGP world title.

Rossi, who qualified second on the grid while Lorenzo was only fourth, said it was essential he pressed home his advantage.

He told MCN: “This weekend we have been always faster than Jorge, so we have to take some points on him and this will be very important.”

Rossi though said he won’t adopt a gung-ho approach to try and end Casey Stoner’s recent domination of the Phillip Island race.

“The first target is for sure the championship and in this weekend looks like Jorge is a little bit in trouble. He’s fourth, but he’s quite far behind, especially from Casey and me.

“The first target is arrive in front of him but it looks like it is possible to fight for the victory and this is good.”