Valentino Rossi motivated by Jorge Lorenzo challenge

The increasing threat posed by Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo is providing great motivation for reigning MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi.

That’s the view of Rossi’s factory Yamaha team boss Davide Brivio, who told MCN that Spaniard Lorenzo’s scintillating form is giving 30-year-old Rossi all the motivation he needs to stay on top. Rossi and Lorenzo head into this weekend’s Dutch GP in Assen tied on 106-points with Ducati rival Casey Stoner, with all three claiming two wins each in the opening six races.

The emergence of Lorenzo though has seen Rossi come under serious pressure from a team-mate for the first time in his career. And Brivio said: “At the end of the day, Jorge will always be at a high level whether he is riding a Yamaha, Honda or Ducati.

But there is no doubt that if one of your competitors is on the same package it is a little bit more complicated and it can be an issue. But for Valentino this is only an additional motivation. The big talent and the big champions are motivated by these challenges, so having such a strong team-mate for Valentino, the motivation is to stay in front.

And it’s the same for Jorge. He has Valentino, who is the hero and the icon on the other side of the garage and if he doesn’t win then it’s almost a normal situation. But if he wins then he is the big hero so he almost has noting to lose. Valentino has much more to lose but from this challenge he is much more motivated.”