Valentino Rossi confirms use aluminum chassis at Aragon MotoGP

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Valentino Rossi confirms use aluminum chassis at Aragon MotoGP - Sport Rider Magazine

Valentino Rossi confirmed at the pre-race press conference for the Motorland Aragon MotoGP event that he will be riding with a new aluminum chassis in his Ducati GP11.1, after reportedly turning lap times that were under his previous race times with the chassis during a test at Mugello last week. “The front part of the bike is a bit different and is aluminum and not carbon fiber like it was before,” said Rossi. “It’s a question of time with regards to the material. We have to work, to try to understand, and with aluminum we need a lot less time than the carbon. It’s just the first step, we’ll keep working and we’ll try to come back and fight for the front positions.” The chassis is rumored to have been built by Moto2 frame specialists FTR to Ducati’s specs; much of the Ducati Corse team’s fabrication is outsourced due to the limited resources at the factory, so an outside-contracted job such as this really isn’t out of the ordinary.

Rossi seems to be upbeat about his chances for improvement with the new chassis. “We tried something different in the bike to improve the front feeling and turning, I was a bit faster than the last time but especially the feeling is quite good," said Rossi. "So we are looking forward.”

Rossi also hammered one of the final nails in the coffin of the paranoia-led boycott of the Motegi GP when he confirmed that he will attend next month’s Grand Prix of Japan after delaying a decision on whether he would go. “I will go to Japan for the race. All the tests are negative, it looks quite safe so yes, I will go to race at Motegi,” Rossi admitted. With the factory Yamaha team stating that both Lorenzo—who was one of the most vocal proponents of the boycott—and Spies would be racing in Japan, the only real holdout now is championship points leader Casey Stoner. Stoner had already softened his initial stance on not attending at Brno and Indianapolis, and with Lorenzo starting to close the points gap to the Australian, it’s almost a sure bet that all of the Honda contingent will make for a full grid at Motegi.

Posted in: Motogp 2012,MotoGP News