Malaysian GP: Michelin race notes

ROSSI SCORES GENIUS WIN TO BOOST TITLE HOPES

World Champion Valentino Rossi (Camel Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) scored one of the greatest wins of his illustrious career with a thrilling last-lap pass on Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici) at steamy hot Sepang this afternoon. Injured Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC211V-Michelin) rode a hero's race to third, just ahead of World Championship leader Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team RC211V-Michelin).

The race was 19.7 seconds faster than last year's Malaysian GP, the biggest year-on-year improvement this season, and maintained Michelin's grip on the World Championship with Hayden, Pedrosa and Rossi separated by just 26 points at the top of the table. Michelin riders have won 11 of 13 races so far this year and currently occupy seven of the first eight positions in the points chase.

"Our congratulations to Valentino, and that was a very good race for us, almost one second a lap faster than last year," commented Nicolas Goubert, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing. "I was confident after seeing how fast Dani was on Friday, but then he crashed. Then Valentino was really fast on Saturday morning and I was confident he could run with Loris. He was very fast at the end, he chose quite a hard rear, harder than the other guys, as he often does. I'm sure that Dani could also have fought for the win if he hadn't gashed his right knee on Friday. Now we go to Phillip Island where I understand the temperature is about eight degrees. I'm tempted to contact my WRC colleagues at BFGoodrich to talk about snow tyres!"

Rossi was full of praise for his tyres after his 58th victory with Michelin, which is Michelin's 349th win in premier-class bike racing. "I don't often say thank you, thank you to everyone, but Michelin gave us a big help here," said the Italian.

Michelin currently leads both the MotoGP and Formula One car World Championships, while fellow Michelin group member BFGoodrich leads the WRC World Championship with Sebastian Loeb (Citroen/BFGoodrich) who won again in Japan last weekend.

-credit: michelin