Fiat Yamaha Unveils Laguna Seca Livery

The Fiat Yamaha unveiled their one-off Laguna Seca livery on Thursday, 22 July 2010, with both Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo present for the unveiling ceremony. This livery celebrates the impending release of the Fiat 500 car in the United States of America and features the faces of 500 fans on the fairing of both bikes.

Fans all over the world were given the chance to submit their photos to be pictured on the fairings of the M1s of Rossi and Lorenzo. In just 30 minutes just after the special site was launched, both the fairings were filled with photos submitted by fans globally.

source: Fiat Yamaha Team

Rossi makes a Remarkable Comeback

Just six weeks after the crash incident in Mugello, the Valentino Rossi makes a remarkable comeback at the German GP finishing fourth by a mere whisker, with his teammate Jorge Lorenzo finishing second. A red flag after nine laps meant the race was restarted, with Dani Pedrosa eventually taking the win after a 21-lap "second" race.

The race at Sachsenring was thrilling with Valentino Rossi battling Casey Stoner for third placing till the chequered flag. On the final lap of the race, Rossi overtook Stoner, in what looked like a decisive move, but on the final corner, Stoner somehow found a way back through, snatching third place, with Rossi forced to settle for fourth.

Davide Brivio, Vale's team manager, expressed that the race weekend at Sachsenring was totally unexpected. A week ago, the team was still 50-50, whether they will be able to race at the German GP yet turned out to be a great weekend by not only able to finish in the top five, but was competitive to snatch podium.

Valentino Rossi had a great battle with Casey for third, and was very close to the podium, expressing that it was a fantastic result after being missing four races.

"I need some more kilometres to really recover the feeling and feel completely okay with the bike again, but I think I did a great job and this was a very good comeback, better than we could wish for.", he added.

Thirteen riders restarted the race, with Pedrosa passing Lorenzo into turn one. The race restart saw Valentino Rossi again losing some ground but he passed Hayden second time around to retake fifth and set off in pursuit of the leaders. Rossi has always been the one to amaze however and he was soon lapping at the same pace as the leading pack to bring him within striking distance with Stoner.

The remaining six laps of the race was simply breathtaking with superb action and overtaking maneuvers from both Rossi and Stoner.

After finishing second for Lorenzo in Sachsenring, the 23-year-old has now finished in first or second place at every one out of eight rounds this season.

Wilco Zeelenberg, Lorenzo's team manager for the Fiat Yamaha Racing, was delighted when Lorenzo, once again, rode well to bag the 20 valuable championship points.

The championship standings now stands with Lorenzo leading with 185 points, Dani Pedrosa with 138 points in second and Dovizioso third with 102 championship points. Rossi is now sixth in the championship standings behind Hayden and Stoner, with 74 championship points.

A wet Round 3 Race

The Round 3 of the Malaysian Super Series was held at the Sepang International Circuit from 17-18 July 2010 seeing the Macau races being held at the circuit as support races to the main event.

The schedule was packed with action filled events with 7 packed back to back races being held, like the GT3 Asia Series, Malaysian GT (formally known as the GT4 Series), Asian Touring Car Series, Classic Car Championship, Supersixteen Championship Series, Macau Roadsports Challenge and the Macau N2000 Series.

Mok Weng Sun, dominated the GT3 Asia Series in races 1 and 2 in his Porsche, even in the pouring rain during the race 2 held later in the afternoon. Mok Weng Sun, who was skipping the Malaysian GT round focused fully on the GT3 Asia Series, paid out well.

In the Malaysian GT series, two-time Malaysian Super Series Champion, Dilantha Malagamuwa needed little time to understand his Lamborghini LP560 as he blazed through qualifying. Dilantha dominated the race from start in both the races held at the circuit.

The new LP560, which only arrived at the circuit Saturday, directly from Germany, clocked 2'9.588s around the 5.543 kilometre circuit, and the Sri Langkan driver were all smiles at the paddock as he expressed in delight of the performance of his prized possession.

He commented that the car was great and did not have to really push the car to its limit round the track, and the car's entry in the Malaysian GT Series was not the main purpose of the car.

"I am having this car for the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MMER). That's the real battle", he added.

Bertie McCrory in his Lotus 7, took the win for both the races in the Classic Car Championship, while Boy Wong, in his Honda Civic, took both the wins gracefully in the SuperSixteen category as the heavy rain continue to pour on the circuit.

As the heavy rainstorm hit the circuit just before the start of the ATCS, and although the rain had eased off, the race was to start behind the safety car in order to allow the drivers to familiarise themselves and locate the areas of standing water.

A total of four cars did not finish the race, including Belmiro, Kuok Lo Keong and Fahrizal Hasan.

Charles Ng, winner in the ATCS Race 6 of the Round 3 Malaysian Super Series, was happy to win it when he overtook Cheung with just two laps remaining.

"With the wet tyres and lower tyre pressure, we had to take it a little slow. But, I had a great battle with Cheung", he added.

The ATCS race 7 & 8 will continue on 30 July 2010 during the Round 4 of the Malaysian Super Series to be held at the Sepang International Circuit.

Rossi debut return at Sachsenring

The Fiat Yamaha Team has announced that Valentino Rossi is cleared to race at this weekend's race in Sachsenring, six weeks after his accident in Italy.

Rossi was examined by Dr Huber Fischer, the Chief Medical Officer for this event declaring that Rossi is fit enough to complete this weekend's race. Rossi is said to be present at an official press conference at Sachsenring, Germany at 1700 CET today.

Confident at Sachsenring for Zulfahmi

Zulfahmi performed beyond expectations at the Round 6 of the World MotoGP in the 125cc category race held at Catalunya, claiming his first championship point there.

Zulfahmi Khairuddin of Malaysia's AirAsia Sepang International Circuit Racing Team has been advised to maintain his great performance, maintaining his focus without putting unnecessary pressure on himself.

Razlan Razali, SIC Chief Executive Officer, said that the Malaysian youngster should approach the upcoming German Grand Prix held at Sachsenring this weekend maintaining focus and his impressive form as he has done for the previous five rounds.

Zulfahmi will constantly be pressured by the local media and the stakeholders, though, the team has always reminded him to enjoy and relax during every race weekend, it will be difficult for him.

"But having said that, Fahmi is doing well mentally and physically, as we have seen often enough that during practice and qualifying, he crashes a fair bit; but picked himself up, focused and performed well", he added.

Razlan, who first saw Zulfahmi in action during the selection for the 2009 Malaysian GP Wildcard Programme, has only praised for the young Malaysian; saying that he has admired his dedication and commitment to constantly improve himself.

Though his participation in the World MotoGP was still recent, Razlan has expressed that the young Malaysian had provided strong impact to the Malaysian Motorsports.

AirAsia-SIC Team technical director, Alessandro Tognelli said that the point earned by the young rider in Catalunya arrived earlier than they had predicted. He added that there is absolutely no pressure on Fahmi to repeat the similar result in Germany, as his target is to continue learning the tracks, bike and racing strategies.

"I'm confident because Sachsenring is in a way less demanding than Catalunya. Having said that, you never know because every circuit presents a new adventure for Zulfahmi to tackle, but he's doing well.", he added.

Rossi test in Brno

Today, Valentino Rossi completed second day of testing, this time at Brno in Czech Republic, following his first ride at Misano. His tests was to better understand his physical condition following the broken leg he sustained at Mugello five weeks ago.

Valentino Rossi completed 46 laps of the Brno Circuit with a best time of 1'59.135. Following the two positive tests at Brno and Misano, Rossi will now wait for a final medical check on Wednesday before making his final decision about riding at Sachsenrin in Germany.

Rossi's substitute rider, Wataru Yoshikawa, who stood for him at the last round held at Circuit de Catalunya, is travelling to Germany and has been entered as a substitute rider once again.

Valentino was very happy with the test at Brno, as he felt better and more confident compared to the test ride in Misano, though, he felt quite exhausted after a few laps round the track.

" We haven't made the final decision yet, I need to have some more x-rays on Wednesday and then my doctors and I will consider whether I can ride at Sachsenring.", he added.

The Fiat Yamaha Team would like to express their thanks to the Yamaha Italia World Superbike Team for their support and help in providing thier bike for Rossi's tests.

Rossi's first test ride

Valentino Rossi completes his test ride at a private test in Misano, Italy, riding the Yamaha YZF-R1 for the first time since breaking his right leg at Mugello on 5th June 2010. The test was to better understand his physical condition from the recovery.

He rode a total of 26 laps at Misano and recorded a best time of 1'38.200. His initial run was 11 laps at 1830 CET with a best time of 1'41.000, then completing the test with a second run of 15 laps at 1945 CET with a best time of 1'38.200 (unofficial times).

The Itallian has made an excellent recovery so far since breaking his right leg at Mugello. Rossi said that this test will help him better understand how the doctors and him will have to work from here and to see how more or less can he ride the bike.

"The test was positive, because I can at least ride, but there was a lot more to a MotoGP race than to a test like this one.", he added.

Riding the motorcycle will help Valentino and his doctors to plan the next stage of his rehabilitation programme in order that he may return to racing as soon as he feels confident to do so.

Rossi expresses that the Superbike provided by the Yamaha World Superbike Team was good and great fun to ride, and he would love to ride it at Sachsenring in 10 days time.