Lorenzo's championship was expected
Thursday, 19 August 2010 18:08
Masao Furusawa, the key figure in the relationship between Valentino Rossi and Yamaha, will not be leaving the Iwata based manufacturers, despite being close to retirement. He told this to the Indonesian newspaper Koran Jakarta.
"I won't be leaving Yamaha - Furusawa said - I will stay on as a consultant. I would have like that Valentino remained an ambassador for the Yamaha brand, like me, when he retired. I wasn't able to manage it. But I still have many things to do outside of MotoGP, and life is short."
Furusawa, who won 45 Grand Prix with Rossi from 2004 to present, seems to have taken the Italian's decision rather hard.
"We spoke face to face several times, and although I was sorry, I had to accept that Valentino wanted to take on this other challenge. So now everyone will go their separate ways, but we will do our best to give him support until the end of the season."
The Yamaha boss, until the end of 2010, still doesn't know if Valentino Rossi will be allowed to test the Ducati at Valencia when the championship concludes.
"Right now you can't say, but at the end it will be treated like a professional relationship. I know that the Ducati has its strengths and weaknesses, and we will see if Rossi can find them and if Ducati follows his indications. Yamaha has won eight out of ten races thus far, and in the second half of the season I expect some great battles between Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner and Pedrosa."
Asked about Lorenzo's current form, Furusawa does not seem surprised.
"I saw it coming: in 2008 Jorge won a single race and Rossi won nine. The next year he won four and Rossi six. His improvement in 2010 was part of the normal path of growth. Lorenzo is very strong mentally and tactically. I don't think Valentino has changed: he is still very strong as well."
