Valentino Rossi focused on clinching title

Valentino Rossi will be hoping to complete a dramatic turnaround by wrapping up his sixth MotoGP world title in this weekend’s Japanese GP.

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Four successive wins mean the Italian can clinch the title on Sunday at the Twin Ring Motegi having opened up a massive 87-point lead on Ducati rival Casey Stoner.

Success will complete an incredible year for Rossi, who lost the 2007 title to Stoner at last year’s Japanese clash.

The 29-year-old, who broke Giacomo Agostini’s all-time premier class winning record with a 69th success in Indianapolis earlier this month, said: “We have had a fantastic run of races and now here we are finally, with a ‘match point’ for the championship, and in Motegi once again!

“In 2005 I was in the same situation but I crashed and had to wait for Malaysia to win the title, and then last year we lost the championship in Japan. I really would like to win in Motegi, especially as it’s such an important race for Yamaha and it would be a great reward for them for all of the work they have done.

“However, we cannot put too much pressure on ourselves and I will try to treat it like another normal race. We have a good margin of points, but there are still four more races so it is still not over!”