Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi got his pre-season off to the best possible start today, finishing fastest on the first day of testing in Sepang. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate and last season’s runner-up Jorge Lorenzo also made a strong start, ending the day in fifth.

Both riders concentrated on completing as many laps as possible on the latest evolution of the 2010 YZR-M1 and, with the weather staying dry until just a few minutes before the end of the session, it was a productive day all round. Rossi led the way and was one of four riders to dip under the existing lap record.

Valentino Rossi, reigning 2009 MotoGP Champion, on day two of testing the Ferrari F2008 F1 race car. The test took place at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain outside of Barcelona.

It was reported by the New York Times that Valentino Rossi, after the two days of testing, recorded a very fast lap time in the F2008. Rossi’s best time of 1:21.90 was just a few ticks off the lap record of 1:21.67 set by Kimi Raikkonen driving the Ferrari back in 2008. Although this is his 6th time testing a Formula 1 car, the man has talent.

Valentino Rossi Speaks…

Valentino Rossi spent a second day in the Indian capital of New Delhi, taking part in a press conference and interviews with the Indian media. The nine-time World Champion was joined by Masao Furusawa, Executive Officer for Engineering Operations at Yamaha Motor Company. Over 300 Yamaha dealers and members of the press turned out to see Rossi, who was visiting India for the first time.

Over this last weekend, Valentino Rossi finished second in the Rally de Monza behind Dindo Capello. Rossi drove a Ford Focus WRC (yes, with four wheels), where the 2009 MotoGP Champion took 4 out of 9 stage wins. The "Doctor" may have won the overall event but his mistakes on stages 4 and 5 handed victory to Dindo Capello in a Citröen C4.

Valentino Rossi also took part in the Rally de Monza Master’s Show. The Master’s show is a competition between all the rally racers in a special elimination round.

Valentino Rossi recently took time to reflect on his 2009 MotoGP Championship with Yamaha. Rossi discussed his season-long battle with rival and teammate Jorge Lorenzo, his competitive spirit, his ninth MotoGP Championships, and his relationship with Yamaha.

Valentino Rossi Speaks… Season Long Battle with Jorge Lorenzo

Rossi Rides Moto

Valentino Rossi and many other Italian MotoGP riders participated in a motocross race event. Yes, a motocross event that Valentino Rossi, himself, organized in Cavallara Italy and raced in last Sunday. The event was titled ‘Motocross dei Campioni, 30 Anni Dopo’ (translates to ‘Motocross Champion, 30 Year After’) and had more than 10,000 enthusiastic fans in attendance.

Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Ben Spies were all present at the official pre-event press conference in Valencia on Thursday, ahead of the 17th and final round of the 2009 MotoGP season; the FIM Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana.

While Rossi may have already wrapped up this year’s title with a race to spare, the Italian’s focus is still on winning the race as he looks to improve on what he believes was a difficult third place last year in Valencia.

Valentino Rossi Speaks…

The highs and lows of another stunning MotoGP season draw to a close this Sunday at the traditional season-ending finale at Valencia in Spain. The Fiat Yamaha Team of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have swept all before them this year, dominating the season by taking ten race wins between them and putting on some of the most entertaining racing displays of recent years.

Valentino Rossi smashed the pole record at Sepang this afternoon to take his sixth pole position of the season ahead of tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix, the Italian’s first championship ‘match point.’ Jorge Lorenzo recovered from a difficult session to put in some good laps at the end and qualify second, making it the 12th time this year that the Fiat Yamaha Pair have shared the front row.

Valentino Rossi Speaks… Sepang MotoGP

"Phillip Island was like gold dust for us in terms of points and now we go to Sepang Malaysia, another of my favourite tracks, with our first ‘match point’," said Rossi, who has five premier-class GP wins at the circuit, including last year. "Of course anything can happen but it’s a great track for me and generally the Yamaha works well there so we have a good chance."

The victorious Fiat Yamaha Team make the long trip down under this week for the Australian round of the MotoGP World Championship, fresh from sealing the Teams’ title at the last race in Estoril. Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have dominated the field this season and the moment of truth is fast approaching – one of the two is now guaranteed to win the title and with just 18 points lying between them this weekend’s action in Phillip Island promises to be exciting.

Jorge Lorenzo Speaks… (1st, 1’36.214)

"It’s been quite a few races since I’ve had a pole! I was getting a bit worried because doing one fast lap has always been one of my strong points but lately we haven’t been able to be quite competitive enough with the soft tyre. This weekend however everything is working really well and the setting with both tyres is great, so I was able to go out and do some very fast laps. Tomorrow is another day and we know that everyone will be strong, so we will just try and push to the limit and see what happens."

Fresh from a break of nearly a month, the Fiat Yamaha Team regroups this weekend at the coastal town of Estoril for the Portuguese Grand Prix. Returning to its more traditional end of season slot after moving to May last season, the race marks the start of the final phase of the championship with just the overseas double-header and the Valencian season finale remaining after it.

Valentino Rossi Speaks

"It has been my first real mistake during this season: to regain some time after a corner out of trajectory, I had to brake where I shouldn’t…" Valentino said after his fall at Indianapolis Moto GP…

And so, with good sense of humor he decided to emphasize his mistake showing an helmet with a very particular face on it: a donkey!

Valentino Rossi may have had a donkey on his helmet today but it was ‘The Doctor’ riding the bike once again, as the Italian hero bounced back from his Indianapolis mistake with an emphatic home victory at Misano. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished a strong second, making this the fifth one-two finish for the team this season.

After the boiling heat of the last two days the temperature today was brought right down by a strong wind, which meant track conditions were quite different to how they had been so far.