Valentino Rossi made his long-awaited return to the factory Yamaha team at Valencia today but the horrendous weather conditions have forced the team into a change of plan for Wednesday’s running. Rossi and new world champion Jorge Lorenzo will move 250km north to Motorland Aragon in the hope of some dry track time.
Despite the soaking race track on Tuesday, Rossi was busy as he reacclimatised to the team and manufacturer which he won four world championships with. The Italian put in a total of 28 laps with the quickest, 1:43.736, good enough for sixth place overall, although he wasn’t available for comment afterwards under the terms of his switch from Ducati, for whom he is still technically under contract.
Go & Fun Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista was comfortably fastest at the end of the day although he managed to sneak in a lap in dry conditions first thing this morning, as did second-placed Stefan Bradl.
Despite his heavy crash during the Valencia Grand Prix on Sunday, Jorge Lorenzo was fit to ride but chose not to go out in the wet, deciding there was little to learn about his 2013 challenger in such conditions.
Yamaha made the decision to depart Valencia early in the afternoon and the switch of venues will see them share the Motorland Aragon circuit with a number of World Superbike teams who are scheduled to run tomorrow, including Tom Sykes’ factory Kawasaki squad.
