French Moto Grand Prix 2010 - Valentino Rossi feeling the heat
It seems as if point’s leader Valentino Rossi may be feeling the heat from his rival and his teammate Jorge Lorenzo as the Moto GP drives up to Le Mans in France, this weekend. Lorenzo sits atop the points table after his win at Jerez, and leads his bitter rival by a narrow four point lead. He will come into this weekend’s race wanting to extend the lead as he has enjoyed a reasonable amount of success at the Le Mans circuit. The Spaniard would want to change the course of his legacy as he finished in second spot last year.
Pundits may still be putting their money on Rossi to reach the finish line, considering he had a poor finish last year at Le Mans on the sixteenth spot. However, Rossi has a record of being triumphant on this track as he had three premier class victories in 2002, 2005 and 2008. The Italian may be feeling confident after an extended period of recuperation during races for his shoulder. However, analysts feel he still lacks the momentum. The duel will heat up as team mate has garnered a lot of momentum coming into this race, riding on a high after his win at Jerez.
Even though this is only the third round in a long gruelling season, the winner will take with him the confidence of capturing the title, due to the all important momentum. The Monster Energy Grand Prix de France will be a good place to secure some key points on the scoring table and create a solid base from where the contenders can build their numbers on. Each team mate will be looking to do just that.
In terms of the teams, predictions are rife that Red Bull would be the dominant one on the circuit however there are still close contenders in the shape of Ducati, Yamaha and Honda, each in the hunt for a win in order to narrow the gap to stay in the competition. Looking at the past two races, Honda has surpassed the speeding Ducati with both its drivers sitting behind the Japanese carmakers team on the points table. So it seems as if all the teams are putting their might into improving and yet solidifying their position. With the season just in its initial phases, it all but looks set to be an enthralling third round till date.
This is the twenty second time in Le Mans circuit’s history that the race is being held at this circuit, with crowds coming in large number to witness the deafening sounds, the lightening fast speeds, the adrenalin and the tailspins. In all this drama, the weather has its own role to play, considering it is the summers and most races that have taken place on this circuit have been either on wet or damp tracks. It will all boil down to which competitor has it in him to take advantage of the circumstances and prove his greatness.
With the world champion clocking in the fastest practice time at Le Mans, the question is, would Rossi be able to take this advantage with him into the final day? He did admit to the fact that his shoulder injury that was inflicted upon him during a motocross accident was still bothering him. He is banking on the pumping adrenalin to see him through on the final day. Rossi clocked the fastest time of 1 min 34.402 seconds and his rival Lorenzo was 0.140 off the clock during the first practice session. It was his superb late lap that catapulted him to the top of the practice time. But the actual race will decide which team mate will propel themselves to the top of the points table.
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