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MotoGP
MOTOGP: Audi Steps In As Rossi-Ducati Marriage Counselor
New Ducati owner Audi has taken on an active role in the attempt to retain the services of Valentino Rossi and turn the floundering Desmosedici program around.
Ducati Team's Valentino Rossi (Photo: Ducati Corse)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Round 9 of the MotoGP World Championship from Mugello, Italy will air LIVE on SPEED on Sunday, July 15th at 8:00am ET. Qualifying will air LIVE all season long on SPEED2. #SPEEDmoto
The new owners of Ducati, German car giant Audi, have indicated they want superstar Valentino Rossi to stay with the red team despite a dismal losing streak stretching almost two years.
That's according to Rossi who met a delegation of Audi-Ducati management during the German Grand Prix on Sunday.
Staying at Ducati is likely, Rossi's only realistic option of a factory deal given that the doors, only ever slightly ajar, are closing fast for places at Yamaha and Honda. At Yamaha race bosses have been warned against "destabilizing" their recently re-signed #1 Jorge Lorenzo by bringing Rossi back. A return to Repsol Honda was deemed 'impossible,' and a satellite team Honda deal, with Rossi bringing his own sponsors and staff, is a complicated option.
Seven-time champion Rossi is MotoGP's premier brand image and his presence contending for race wins is crucial to bolstering TV deals and commercial activity in tough economic times.
Audi bosses, including CEO Rupert Stadler along with Ducati's Gabrielle del Torchio, were at the Sachsenring for the meet and greet with Rossi who said contract talks were yet to open.
"They are very positive for the Ducati project and to help Ducati come back at the top and to make a competitive bike to win races," Rossi said. "For Audi it is also very important to do this with me. But Audi make cars so they need time and experience to understand bikes, but from the other side to have a brand and a factory like Audi to be helping Ducati is a huge help."
No doubt the summer talks with Rossi are set to start and a crucial point will be satisfying Rossi that Ducati Corse will have a technical and engineering package deserving of his talent and image.
There is a view that Ducati's race department needs to be revitalized with the performance of technical director Filippo Preziosi more than once called into question by Rossi.
For seven years Rossi was spoiled by Yamaha engineering guru Masao Furusawa who delivered a series of classy and rider-friendly M1 bikes, engineered close to perfection, that Rossi took to 46 of his 79 GP victories.
He has won zero races on Preziosi's often beastly, ill-mannered Desmosedici bikes.
The new owners of Ducati, German car giant Audi, have indicated they want superstar Valentino Rossi to stay with the red team despite a dismal losing streak stretching almost two years.
That's according to Rossi who met a delegation of Audi-Ducati management during the German Grand Prix on Sunday.
Staying at Ducati is likely, Rossi's only realistic option of a factory deal given that the doors, only ever slightly ajar, are closing fast for places at Yamaha and Honda. At Yamaha race bosses have been warned against "destabilizing" their recently re-signed #1 Jorge Lorenzo by bringing Rossi back. A return to Repsol Honda was deemed 'impossible,' and a satellite team Honda deal, with Rossi bringing his own sponsors and staff, is a complicated option.
Seven-time champion Rossi is MotoGP's premier brand image and his presence contending for race wins is crucial to bolstering TV deals and commercial activity in tough economic times.
Audi bosses, including CEO Rupert Stadler along with Ducati's Gabrielle del Torchio, were at the Sachsenring for the meet and greet with Rossi who said contract talks were yet to open.
"They are very positive for the Ducati project and to help Ducati come back at the top and to make a competitive bike to win races," Rossi said. "For Audi it is also very important to do this with me. But Audi make cars so they need time and experience to understand bikes, but from the other side to have a brand and a factory like Audi to be helping Ducati is a huge help."
No doubt the summer talks with Rossi are set to start and a crucial point will be satisfying Rossi that Ducati Corse will have a technical and engineering package deserving of his talent and image.
There is a view that Ducati's race department needs to be revitalized with the performance of technical director Filippo Preziosi more than once called into question by Rossi.
For seven years Rossi was spoiled by Yamaha engineering guru Masao Furusawa who delivered a series of classy and rider-friendly M1 bikes, engineered close to perfection, that Rossi took to 46 of his 79 GP victories.
He has won zero races on Preziosi's often beastly, ill-mannered Desmosedici bikes.
Grand Prix of The Americas
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