Things look good for Valentino Rossi for 2010 – he dominated almost all of the pre-season testing sessions, he’s suffered no injuries, and his only serious rival (for the start of the season at least) looks like being Casey Stoner; Jorge Lorenzo is still not fully recovered from his hand injury that he sustained a few weeks ago, and Dani Pedrosa is having huge issues trying to get his Honda looking like a competitive machine.

Both Fiat Yamaha riders and crew chiefs have been giving their thoughts this week on the new MotoGP season that starts in only a few days in Qatar.

Valentino Rossi – “A good pre-season”
“Finally we’re at the start of the season and we are all very excited. The pre-season has gone well for me, our new M1 is good, Yamaha and Bridgestone have done a great job and we have been fast. We have only had six days on track so we still have work to do and things to learn about the new bike, but we are starting in good shape. I expect this season to be a big battle with many riders very strong, and I hope that we will show some good racing to the fans! Qatar hasn’t been one of the best tracks for our bike in the last few years but at the test we went well so I hope this will continue again for the race.”

Jorge Lorenzo – “Not perfect yet”
“I am not perfect yet, I still need more time to recover 100% from my injury, but at least I can ride in Qatar. I am very happy because we are so close now to the start of the season; it’s been a long winter! Unfortunately, I had some troubles in training and hurt my hand, but these things happen. Qatar is a very special track for me; it was the place where I got my first podium in MotoGP in 2008! I know this time it will be more difficult, but I will try to be close to the action. I hope this year it doesn’t rain like last year!”

Davide Brivio – “Let’s go racing!”
“Our development in testing has gone very well and this is encouraging for us all. We were fast in Sepang but also in Qatar, more than a second faster than last year in fact, so we are going into the first race feeling confident that we can put up a fight. It hasn’t been the best race for us previously but everyone is very focused and we will be looking to make a strong start to the campaign. The waiting is nearly over and we’re ready – let’s go racing!”

Wilco Zeelenberg – “A long season”
“Jorge’s thumb is still not perfect but he was stronger than we expected at the last test and he has had some more time to recover since then so the situation is not too bad. It was a great shame for him that this happened and he missed one test but he has had good treatment and he is in the best shape possible, considering the injury. He felt good on the bike at the test and now we will just try to make some more small steps during practice this weekend. It’s a long season and this is just the first race.”

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