Valentino Rossi

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Valentino Rossi has always been something of a trendsetter, but some of the fashions he has introduced have been more welcome than others. One of his less attractive innovations has been the introduction of a dividing wall between his own pit garage and that of his team mates, a trend which was followed before the year was out by Dani Pedrosa.

The dividing wall was ostensibly meant to separate not the riders, but the tire technicians, to ensure that Rossi's Bridgestone engineers could have no contact with the Michelin technicians working with Jorge Lorenzo, and keep the data from the two team members and tire brands strictly apart. But since the announcement that MotoGP will be switching to a single tire supplier, namely Bridgestone, in 2009, the wall is no longer necessary for that purpose and could - in theory at least - be removed. 

Theory, however, is foundering on the rocky shores of Valentino Rossi's will. The Doctor has been very public about his desire to keep the wall in place next year, leaving him and his team to focus on the job of defending his 2008 world title. 

His Fiat Yamaha team mate, Jorge Lorenzo, disagrees. Both men were attending the Monza Rally Show at Milan's legendary Monza circuit in Italy, and while there, Lorenzo was asked what he thought of the wall dividing the two pit boxes. "It's Vale's choice, not mine," he told Italian site GPOne.com. "Now that we're both on Bridgestones, we don't need it any more, there are no secrets to keep. Rossi's attitude looks like a sign of weakness towards me, but he has won 6 MotoGP titles, I haven't won any. I don't understand."

Rossi's reply was fast, and clear. "There are two riders who both want to win the world championship at Yamaha," Rossi said. "The wall improves the harmony in the team, and it worked well this year. Why change?" 

It is perhaps a little strange to be discussing the future of a rider who has just signed a contract to ride for another two years, but as the rider in question is Valentino Rossi, speculation about what he will do when he stops racing motorcycles is likely to continue up until the day that he finally announces his plans.

It all started, of course, with the Italian superstar's plans to switch to Formula 1 at the end of the 2006 season. The difficulties he experienced during that year, and the realization that the intense publicity under which he is forced to live his life would only be intensified in Formula 1, eventually led Rossi to change his mind, and to sign for Yamaha for another two years.

But Rossi's passion for four wheels continues. The Doctor is scheduled to test the Ferrari F1 car at Mugello on the 20th and 21st of November, and will be competing in the Wales Rally GB WRC event in December. Despite intense speculation, Rossi has already made it clear that he will not be moving to Formula 1 after his contract expires, as, in his own words, "31 is too old to enter F1."

And so WRC - the World Rally Championship - is his most likely destination. Rally driving has been his second passion after motorcycles for a long time, and Rossi has a long history of competing. Now, Rossi has confirmed to the Italian sports daily Gazzetto dello Sport that he is actively considering jumping to rally cars after he hangs up his leathers.

"I like rallies very much," he said. "I think I could make the switch when I'm finished with motorcycles. I don't know, I haven't decided yet. Anyway, I have a contract (with Yamaha) for two more years. After that, we will see."

There is one other, more intriguing, if rather unlikely, possibility. Michael Scott, writing in GPWeek, the online racing magazine, revealed that Valentino Rossi had tried to find a way to compete in the final round of World Superbikes at Portimao in Portugal two weeks ago. His motivation was cited as being "to enjoy some close racing again."

The qualifying practice session at the Sepang MotoGP round was to be the penultimate time that the MotoGP riders were to experience the exhilarating and terrifying levels of grip provided by qualifying tires, scheduled to disappear once the single tire rule was introduced. But at the start of the session, it didn't look like they would get to use them at all, the rain appearing between the morning and afternoon sessions having soaked the track.

Two riders had made sure that they would use qualifying rubber, as Kawasaki had decided to send both its riders out on soft tires at the end of FP3. The team had seen the weather forecasts, and mindful of 2006, when the grid was set on the basis of the results in free practice, Ant West and John Hopkins had used one of their qualifiers gambling on the official qualifying session being rained out.

It was a smart move, leaving West sitting pretty at the top of the timesheets, shortly before the rain came down. But sadly for West, the rain did not come in sufficient quantity to wash out qualifying, and so the entire grid went out to start the afternoon session on rain tires.

What the riders found was a track that was wet, but drying very slowly, the tropical sun unable to penetrate the thick clouds, and so the initial laps were well off a fast pace, Shinya Nakano the first person to hold the fastest lap for any significant length of time.

The Japanese rider was looking very strong. Every time someone took the fastest lap from him, Nakano responded. His first serious time was a lap of 2'18, a time which Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner then bettered, before Nakano took the top time back again with a 2'17.905.

Next up was Chris Vermeulen. The wet weather master was into the 2'16 bracket before Nakano struck back once again, with a time of 2'15.686. But Nakano's dominance was about to come to an end.

As the halfway mark approached, Valentino Rossi took back provisional pole by a tenth of a second, before ceding pole to Nakano once again, then duking it out with this Fiat Yamaha team mate Jorge Lorenzo over who would start from the front of the grid.

This little contretemps took the pole time down from a 2'14 into the 2'11s, before Andrea Dovizioso started to get involved. The JiR Scot Honda rider was starting to take big steps forward, dropping his times by a second a lap for the next three laps. With just over 20 minutes to go, times were heading into the 2'08s, and the track was starting to show a proper dry line for large parts of the track.

At the beginning of the session, Dani Pedrosa's pole time from last year, a lap of 2'01.877, looked completely out of reach, but as the track continued to dry, and the lap times kept falling, suddenly, it didn't seem such a foolish notion after all.

The first day at Sepang was a strange affair, with weather playing a major role, as expected. Though the expected thunderstorms didn't roll in while the bikes were on track, conditions were hot and humid, and a light drizzle blighted the afternoon session for 20 minutes or so.

Valentino Rossi set the mark in the morning, the only man to post a time in the 2'02 bracket in the dying moments of the session, but in the afternoon, it was clearly contract time. Shinya Nakano dominated the session almost from the off, quickly setting the fastest time, a low 2'03, and once the drizzle started 20 minutes in, his time went unchallenged.

Most of the grid spent much of the next 20 minutes in their garages, venturing out only sporadically, with only the truly desperate putting in a lot of laps. The light drizzle meant that any data gathered would be of little use in either the dry or the wet, as times were several seconds off the pace, but there was not enough water on the track to break out even intermediate tires.

Once the rain stopped, and the track dried out, the garages emptied their riders onto the track in a rush to the end of the session. Everyone was out on track, people only popping briefly back into the pits for a new tire and a quick conference with their pit crew. And everyone was drastically improving their time.

It was a testament to Nakano's first fast lap that his time stood for so long. He was the only man to beat his own time until the last minute of the session, when Valentino Rossi came flying past, followed shortly by Casey Stoner. But even Stoner's time would not last, as it was Colin Edwards who ended up with the fastest time, putting in a seriously fast time on his final lap.

Guido is dead. News that a dog has died does not generally make it onto the front page of websites about motorcycle racing, but as with every rule, there's always an exception. And in motorcycle racing, exceptions to the rule generally mean that Valentino Rossi is involved somehow.

The reason that Guido's death is garnering so much attention - even meriting a mention in Italy's most prestigious sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport - is that Guido is Valentino Rossi's dog.

But Guido was more than just a pet. The white bulldog was also Valentino Rossi's mascot, appearing on Rossi's helmet and his bike, as much lucky charm as household pet. Indeed, such was Rossi's attachment to the dog that Guido even starred in Quarantasei, a graphic novel produced by Milo Manara containing a fictional account of Valentino Rossi's adventures and eventual triumph in motorcycle racing. It must be said that Guido was very much the co-star of the book, the star of the show being Rossi's M1 motorcycle.

So, it is a sad day for Valentino Rossi, and our thoughts, and most likely the thoughts of thousands of Rossi fans around the world, go out to the Italian superstar. May Guido spend the rest of eternity chasing rabbits across the Elysian Fields. 

Photo: Scott Jones, Turn2Photography

The full text of a statement released by Valentino Rossi after the Motegi race. Contains details of the race.