Valentino Rossi won’t be connected by Jeremy Burgess - The crew chief has returned to Australia to be with his wife, who must undergo a series of medical exams and a probable urgent surgical procedure. The team and the Ducati technicians expand their best wishes to Burgess and his family, and they look forward to welcoming him back for Round 9 at Germany’s Sachsenring in three weeks. In the meantime, Burgess’s crew chief role will be packed by Max Bartolini, who normally works as Team Technical Manager on the Ducati Team. Fabiano Sterlacchini will fill that role this week.
Ducati thanks Team Pramac, which always works very directly with the manufacturer, for making Sterlacchini available. He normally works as Team Technical Manager and Track Engineer for Loris Capirossi, who will miss the Italian GP due to injury.
The Mugello track is one of Valentino’s favorites, as the Italian has won there no less than nine times in the various classes. Nicky Hayden earned a Mugello podium in 2006 and is also very fond of the circuit. As always, the team will be supported by thousands of ducatisti, who will be reassuring from two beautiful grandstands at the Correntaio corner.
Valentino Rossi:
“First of all I’d like to wish good luck to Jeremy, who won’t be able to join us this weekend due to very important individual reasons. We’ll miss him very much in the garage, but we look onward to seeing him at the Sachsenring. In the meantime, we must try to do well at Mugello. We’ve ridden there with the GP12, but because our bike is an 800, it responds a little in your own way to adjustments, and it’s also in its first phase of development. It will be vital to quickly find the right path for the setup, as it’s important that we get better in every session in order to qualify in a good position. The track is one of my favorites, and I’ve always done pretty well there. Returning after last year’s accident is no problem for me, because I enjoyed riding there during the fresh tests, as I always do. I hope there will be a big crowd and that I’ll be able to do better than we’ve managed awaiting now, because this is a very important race.”
