PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s Valentino Rossi will once again be joined by Jake Dixon – stand in for the recovering Franco Morbidelli – this weekend, as the pair head to MotorLand Aragon for the 13th round of the year: the AragonGP.
This will be Rossi’s first GP at the Aragon circuit since 2019, after he was forced to miss both the AragonGP and TeruelGP last year due to a positive Covid test. The Spanish track is one of the few where the Italian has not claimed a race win, but he has been on the podium three times since the circuit hosted its first race in 2010. Valentino will be hoping to continue his progress and make a return to the top-ten when the chequered flag is waved on Sunday.
This weekend will see Jake Dixon back out on track on the Yamaha YZR-M1, as he continues to deputise for Franco Morbidelli. After experiencing his premier class debut at his home GP last time out, the Brit will be aiming to continue making progress at the track that saw him claim his best Moto2 result to date. Having ended the 2020 edition in fourth, Jake will be hoping that he can transfer some of this experience to when he rides the MotoGP bike again in a few days’ time.
FP1 will get underway for Rossi and Dixon at 9.55am local time (3.55pm MYT) Friday, while Sunday’s 23-lap MotoGP race will bring the AragonGP to its conclusion at 2pm local time (8pm MYT).
46 Valentino Rossi
I felt good with the bike throughout all of the BritishGP, especially as in the free practices we had one of the best pace of our season. We also had a good start to the race, where I was in a place that I could fight with the fastest riders. I am hopeful that we can feel the same this weekend, but Aragon can be really demanding in terms of grip level during the whole race – especially on the rear. Although I have been on the podium a few times, I have never won there. The layout of the track is good and it’s fast, but riding it is tricky; you have to be especially smooth in this circuit to be strong at the end of the race. We will see what happens though and I’m looking forward to being back there after missing it last yea
96 Jake Dixon
I’m really looking forward to Aragon this weekend and to have another chance to ride the Yamaha YZR-M1 again is just awesome. It has made me really happy. I want to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to ride the bike again and to see what I can do. I want to see how I can improve throughout the weekend again and try to close that gap to the front guys. Obviously they are the best in the world but I have a great team around me and I think it’s possible. I feel like I’m working well with the bike and I think we’ll take another step closer towards the front this weekend.
