MotoGP: Valentino Rossi hopes for successful appeal to fight for 2015 title ‘on equal terms’ at Valencia

VALENTINO Rossi is hoping a successful appeal will allow him to fight Jorge L\orenzo for the MotoGP world title ‘on equal terms’ at Valencia this weekend.

VALENTINO Rossi will not know until Friday if he will chase his 10th motorcycle racing world championship from the rear of the grid in MotoGP’s season finale at Valencia this weekend.

Rossi holds a slender seven point lead over Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, a fact largely overshadowed by the controversy and debate over his clash with Marc Marquez in Spain that saw the Honda rider crash out of the race.

Tensions have been building ever since between fans of each rider and the sport as a whole, with the atmosphere between rival Rossi and Marquez fans expected to reach a fever pitch at Valencia.

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“It will be a very intense weekend and also a very important one,” Rossi said.

“In Valencia there will be so many fans and I’m glad for that. I’ll try to do my best on the track.”

But it is the off-track drama that will come first. Rossi is pursuing a stay of execution of the penalty handed to him by MotoGP race direction over his incident with Marquez, as part of an appeal to.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will hand down its ruling on his request for a stay on Friday. If successful, it would ensure the penalty will not be applied to Rossi at Valencia regardless of the eventual result of his appeal.

“I’m still waiting to hear the decision of the CAS, but I hope I can do a normal GP to battle and fight for the title on equal terms with Jorge,” he said.

“I want to think just about what will happen at the track. My goal is to work at my best capabilities with my team and make the most of every session to get to the race on Sunday with everything I need to express myself in the best way possible.”

Originally published as MotoGP: Valentino Rossi hopes for successful appeal to fight for 2015 title ‘on equal terms’ at Valencia