Sepang will look into the safety of the Malaysian grand prix venue following Sunday’s death of MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli.
The Italian, whose helmet came off during the incident, died in Malaysia after he partially fell from his Honda and was struck from behind by rivals Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards.

Sepang, built ahead of its 1999 debut, also hosts F1′s annual Malaysian round.

Circuit chairman Mokhzani Mahathir told AFP it is a “safe track”.

“It is a sad and unfortunate racing accident but the circuit is designed to the highest safety levels,” he said.

“(The) accident was beyond anybody’s control or expectation.”

He added however that officials will look into whether safety can be improved at Sepang.

“We will see from it (the investigation) if there is anything we could have done differently,” said Mokhzani.

Also referring to Dan Wheldon’s recent death, Force India driver Adrian Sutil told reporters in India on Monday that “everybody knows” MotoGP and Indycar are more dangerous than F1.

“I can say that formula one is pretty safe and secure,” said the German.

The usual problem qualifying. Throughout the season, Valentino Rossi has encountered more problems than usual in “Time Attack” and are found today in Sepang back to earth for a slip. Shared with the second Ducati Desmosedici GP11.1 available, 9 times World Champion has remedied a place in the third row with reference to the 9 th fastest time: better than yesterday, but the problems are always the same …

” Compared to yesterday, today went a little better , “admitted Rossi. ” The main problem that has ruined our qualifications is always the same fall. The other dynamic is the same slide, we need to understand what leads to this error because it causes us to lose precious time.

After the fall are shared with the second bike with which I had the same feeling, but I managed to get a place on the third row. In the first areas where there are more challenging corners that we lose less than in T4, where, just there, leave 6 of the 9 / 10 than their opponents. We lose a lot out of the two hairpins, we need to understand why.

Thinking about our race pace has improved, but problems remain the choice of tires, everything will depend on the weather. No doubt it will be a tough race, difficult, but we did better than yesterday managed to make some progress . “

Fighting on the edge for winning the pole position at Brno Automotodrom Returning from the (short) summer break, the main players in the top class were found encased in comparison to a handful of milliseconds: 113 to be exact, enough to Dani Pedrosa to mock agitated in a final session, the reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo. At the first pole position of the season (strange to say for a single lap specialist like him well in his career achieved 36 pole, just half in the top class), Pedrosa has stopped the clock sull’1’56 “591 without the stress’ unapproachable step-by-race shown yesterday.

The three-time world champion, already victorious in Brno 125cc (2003) and 250 (2005) with three podium finishes to the Masaryk Circuit in five editions of the Grand Prix of Republic of MotoGP, the reference is still in prospect for tomorrow’s race ( off as usual at 14:00) which will start in the front row alongside, as well as Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, also from the third to 0 “269 trying to fix those problems yesterday rediscounted riding his factory Honda RC212V.

With the trio used to monopolize the front row and podium finishes this season, there is little room for Ben Spies, fourth and not the best physical condition, but still ahead of Marco Simoncelli (5 °) and Valentino Rossi , who with a real “twist” at the end managed to get on the second row with the sixth fastest time by filing the gap to 7 tithing, best qualifying this season and his adventure with Ducati. There is no room for any kind of illusions, because the situation remains problematic to the red boxes: no way, but they show some small signs of recovery over a single lap at least as evidenced by the 9 th lap Nicky Hayden , over the weekend forced to navigate in the rear with the “old” GP11 (the “Step 1″ will try it until Monday in the post-race test day).

Among the disappointed of these tests include Andrea Dovizioso, 7 °, as Loris Capirossi that goes beyond the 16 th performance in front of Karel Abraham, who fell at the end of the session, in two separate occasions inadvertently emulated even by Randy De Puniet and Cal Crutchlow. Saturday to forget for Suzuki with Alvaro Bautista Friday 14 ° after a convincing KO following the flight this morning instead of John Hopkins : a broken finger on his right hand, farewell weekend action with a view to avoid compromising the title race in the British Superbike.

MotoGP World Championship 2011
Brno Qualifying Standings

01 – Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 1’56 .591
02 – Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0113
03 – Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 0269 +
04 – Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – 0587 +
05 – Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – 0760 +
06 – Valentino Rossi – Team Ducati – Ducati Desmosedici GP11.1 – + 0776
07 – Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 0851 +
08 – Colin Edwards – Tech 3 Yamaha Monster – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1085
09 – Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – 1130 +
10 – Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1193
11 – Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1206
12 – Toni Elias – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – 1654 +
13 – Hector Barbera – Mapfre Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – 1682 +
14 – Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki – Suzuki GSV-R – 1683 +
15 – Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – 2298 +
16 – Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – 2347 +
17 – Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – 2355 +

Sebastian Vettel did not win the prestigious Laureus prize despite becoming F1′s youngest ever world champion.
The 23-year-old was nominated for the sportsman of the year gong but it was Spanish world number 1 tennis star Rafael Nadal who accepted the trophy on Monday night at the gala in Abu Dhabi.

And the Spanish national football team also beat Vettel’s nominated Red Bull team to the best international team prize.

Representing the world of premier motor racing, however, Valentino Rossi was awarded the world comeback of the year title.

Last year, the Italian took just 41 days to return to the saddle of his MotoGP bike after suffering an exposed leg fracture.

Norbert Haug has denied Helmut Marko’s claim that Mercedes is making a move to sign Sebastian Vettel for 2012.
After Marko this week admitted that Ferrari is pushing hard to poach Red Bull staff, the Austrian has now told Kleine Zeitung that Mercedes is moving on the energy drink-owned team’s reigning world champion Vettel.

Asked by the newspaper who other than Ferrari is interested in the 23-year-old, motor racing consultant Vettel answered: “Mercedes for sure.

“Knowing that Sebastian has a contract with us, Mercedes expresses quite an interest in him.”

Marko confirmed that Vettel’s contract expires at the end of the year but includes an option for 2012.

“For the time after (2011), we are already talking,” he revealed.

But when asked about Marko’s comments, Mercedes’ motor sport vice president Haug said the German marque has “not made Sebastian Vettel an offer”.

“We have exactly the drivers we wanted in Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg,” he told the German press agency DPA.

Haug however admitted it is “no secret” he has a good personal relationship with German Vettel but said it is “absolutely wrong” to make any assumptions because of that.

Multiple MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi thinks Mercedes would be right to be on the market for another driver.

At the Madonna di Campiglio ‘Wrooom’ event for Ferrari and Ducati, the rider said he thinks it will be “almost impossible” for Schumacher to win again following a three-year retirement.

“Michael is still going (with his comeback) and hopes to get the results he wants,” the Italian is quoted by SID news agency. “But as I said, it will be very difficult.”

There are no physical problems, the shoulder surgery was postponed in mid-November, so between Estoril and Valencia Valentino Rossi will conclude the seven-year experience with Yamaha. Hopefully in the best way to 9-time world champion, trying to win starting with the Grand Prix of Portugal where it does not rise to the top step of the podium since 2007, only 4 th last year.

“The last three races have been positive, “says Valentino Rossi. “I won three podiums, including a victory, I was happy because the bike has improved the health of my injured shoulder. Now we return to Europe and I feel very strong, I want to have fun in these last two races trying to win again.

Estoril for me last year was not a good race, we had some problems and am not on the podium, so we will try to change history this year. After Phillip Island in Portugal the weather is definitely better, even though the weather can change very quickly in Estoril It will be a factor to be reckoned with. ”

Potentially still in the race for third place in the championship, it should be noted that Valentino Rossi in the last three races has collected more points than all: the best way to present at Estoril and Valencia, for the first test with Ducati on 9-10 November .

Found on the podium at Motegi and the victory at Sepang, Valentino Rossi has encountered more problems than expected this weekend at Phillip Island. At the end of formal qualifications obtained where only the eighth time is the third row are two aspects that have prevented the 9-time World Champion to do better.

First one still not optimal balance of his Yamaha YZR-M1 with a set up far from defined “optimal.” Secondly traffic and a series of unfortunate events that allowed him to improve on the grid for tomorrow looked forward to a tough race on paper.

“Today I was really unlucky, “said Valentino Rossi. “With the two softer tires to do the time I’m getting a good grid position. Before I met in trajectory Espargaro and Hayden, then it started raining and so I was unable to improve.

Start from the third row and will be a tough race, especially because we have not found a good race pace and we must work more on set-up. This evening and tomorrow morning we will try to find a solution to improve and have a good race.

The weather not only the ideal, this is a real shame because the track is fantastic and this cold you can not drive at its best, it takes several laps to send the tires up to temperature. I expect a very tough race, but we’ll see what we can do. “

The first win after an injury to the Mugello Valentino Rossi has had a special flavor. The 46th with Yamaha, but also demonstrate that they have finally overcome the difficult time that he had influenced in the last race of the season. With the newfound competitiveness in absolute terms for the nine times world champion this weekend is the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, waiting for him.

A very busy and important weekend for the foreseeable future: it is possible to confirm at high levels, but also to verify once and for all the health status of the injured shoulder in one of the more technical circuits and fast the whole calendar champion.

“Sunday was a truly fantastic day, “says Valentino Rossi,”get back to winning was wonderful. It ‘was one of my best victories of his entire career, the 46th with the Yamaha, I’m really happy.

Now I want to try to finish the season and are excited to get to Phillip Island which is one of the most spectacular circuits where race bikes. There are a number of years that I can not win in Australia, I would like to change that.

Many members of my team are Australians, and the audience is always very enthusiastic, so Phillip Island is always a very special race. “

Valentino Rossi has admitted it is unlikely he will switch to formula one in the future.

Now 31, the multiple champion of MotoGP has in the past flirted with a move to F1 after several test drives.

After badly breaking his leg earlier this season, Rossi has been beaten to the 2010 title and it had been said his move from Yamaha to the Italian marque Ducati could be a precursor to a future move to Ferrari.

But while in Malaysia last weekend for the latest MotoGP race, he told Italian media: “Now, I really don’t think it (moving to F1) will happen.”

Rossi was also scathing whilst criticising the motorcycle racing series’ governing body for deciding to delay the Sepang race to avoid a television clash with F1 in Japan.

He said the move compromised riders’ safety because the threat of rain in Malaysia is greater later in the day.

“We always bend over backwards to the formula one superpower,” said the Italian.

The world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, Fiat Yamaha rider, ended Friday in free practice on the Sepang track with the third fastest time, preceded by team-mate Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso (Honda HRC).

The Spaniard ran into difficulties, as well as for the heat and dirt on the track, in the fourth sector of the track, which caused him to lose precious tenths and did not allow him to close the session ahead. Then this will be the main goal for “Porfuera”, which is to improve on that stretch so that we can aspire to the forefront, if not the pole position, in what is the first weekend in which to meet the world title.

“The conditions today were quite difficult,” admits Jorge Lorenzo, “with the high temperatures and the dirt path. I’m happy because I felt good on the bike, I went fast and I finished near the top position.

We used the old engine again today, but tomorrow we’ll probably try the new one. We have to work a fourth area, which is where we are wasting time now, so tomorrow we’ll focus on that and try to improve it further. “

After the battle with his teammate and rival views Lorenzo in Motegi, Valentino Rossi seems to have recovered the enamel and the motivation to do well. His is the best time at the end of the first free practice session on the track at Sepang, with the pilot of Tavullia that marked a best lap of 2’02 .724.

Signals from the shoulder seem more positive, so that the “Doctor” will focus on tomorrow to find a rhythm important race, and try to get an important front row in the grid. The feeling with the bike is excellent, and this is a sign that the difference at this moment is making the nine-time world champion.

“It ‘s been another good start for us here,”says Valentino Rossi. “We found a good set-up right now. I feel really comfortable on my bike, and until now, the shoulder seems fine.

The track is quite dirty, but will improve and I really like racing at this track, is one of my favorites and are always happy to get on here. We are confident that we can improve tomorrow and be in good shape that allows us to obtain the first row tomorrow afternoon. “

Some comments after the race at Motegi not have liked to Jorge Lorenzo. The “critical” attitude of Valentino Rossi in the last two laps of the Grand Prix of Japan did not want to be a “lament”, but rather a clarification on the conduct of the race of his team-mate to him a little too over the top in the duel good for third place in the championship. As reported AS.com, this is what he had to say yesterday the leader of the world in direct conversation with the radio program “El Larguero” broadcast by Cadena Ser

“I was bothered that many people have said that I cried for the duel at Motegi. I only said that it did not seem logical that your teammate run that way when you’re fighting for the title and have not yet reached this goal, nothing else. “

Lorenzo was later revealed he had not yet prepared any party for any wins the championship in Sepang (just bad luck?), And know how to duel with Valentino Rossi in a melee confrontation: “If necessary, we must be more aggressive usual“.

The duel with Jorge Lorenzo and third-place finish made confident Valentino Rossi ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. Friend on a circuit nine times world champion aims to repeat this good performance, although it will occur Friday in the first free practice the status of the injured shoulder.

“The race at Motegi was very exciting for us and I found myself in the lead in the race as evidence and did not happen for a long time, “says Valentino Rossi. “I have no idea about my physical condition in view of Sepang, but it is definitely one of my 2 / 3 favorite tracks and I am always pleased correr here.

In winter testing went very well, but compared to February a lot has changed though in Japan, we made some improvements to the bike. My hope is that we can also repeat this weekend and confirmed in“.

Valentino Rossi at Sepang last year won his ninth world title finishing the race in the rain, in third place.

An intense duel, at least, spectacular. Jorge Lorenzo came out “losers” by comparison with Valentino Rossi at Motegi, falling off the podium for the second consecutive race finishing in fourth place. Some maneuvers Rossi did not go to the genius of “almost” World Champion, and was able to confide in the press release also disclosed by the same team Fiat Yamaha.

“It ‘was a great battle with Valentino, “says Jorge Lorenzo. “We were two warriors with the killer instinct! In my opinion, exaggerated in some places, we were both at the limit, but some of his moves were a little too over the top as we touched and went off course. We’re teammates, I am fighting for the title and the Yamaha has yet to win the constructors’ title and the team: we had to take it into consideration in the race today. “

Apart from the duel with Valentino Rossi, the two-time 250cc world champion can not be satisfied with the result, although in 7 days at Sepang can celebrate winning the world title with three games to spare …

“I’m disappointed because I wanted particularly missed the podium here in Yamaha’s home race, but that’s racing. We chose to run with the old engine to be safe, but unfortunately we were not in place, especially the front. Now I am close to realize my dream, I really hope we can do it at Sepang.

Get out the winner in a duel with Jorge Lorenzo must have been a good sign for Valentino Rossi. Almost without thinking more injured shoulder today at Motegi was the protagonist of an exceptional race, coming to terms with his teammate, won the tussle for a podium found after Misano. The nine-time world champion spoke about this in the post-race duel, considering this comparison “correct” and “spectacular.”

“What a race! Obviously I would have liked to find myself fighting for the win, but it was still a great satisfaction, a great show and I want to congratulate Jorge because he never gave up. Unfortunately I lost time at the beginning so Stoner and Dovizioso went on the run, when I spent Lorenzo were too far apart.

In the end I was a little tired and the rear tire was sliding a lot, I knew I was a little bit in trouble, but I wanted the podium more than anything. Jorge and I took over we have created a good battle, in my view correct, I think we all have fun.

It ‘been a great weekend, I expected to have difficulties, but actually we were competitive in every session and our bike worked well. The shoulder is OK, now we go to Malaysia hoping to confirm and, if possible, do better, “said Valentino Rossi, who seems completely” recovered “and” cured “.