Rossi Aims For 200th Premier Class Podium This Week

Valentino Rossi (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - MotoGP will hold the third series of the 2020 season this week. Taking place at the Brno Circuit, Czech Republic, Valentino Rossi is eyeing his 200th podium in the premier class.

The Doctor has ended a 15-month wait since his last podium finish after finishing third at the Andalusian Grand Prix at the Jerez Circuit last month.

The 41-year-old racer proved that he was still able to compete with other young riders at Jerez who presented the hottest races that The Doctor had ever experienced.

Armed with the 199th podium in the premier class, Rossi headed for Brno hoping to continue Yamaha's positive trend even though the circuit was known to be less friendly to the M1 motorbike.

Rossi himself still holds the record for MotoGP riders with the most podium finishes, while his closest competitors are Jorge Lorenzo with 114 podiums, Dani Pedrosa with 112 podiums and Marc Marquez who has won 95 podiums, equaling Mick Doohan's achievements.

According to the official MotoGP page records reported by Antara, most of Rossi's podiums in MotoGP have been won with Yamaha 142 times, then when he raced for Honda 54 times and Ducati three times.

The last time Rossi got on the podium at Brno was during the 2016 Czech GP, when Rossi finished runner-up after Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) knocked out their rivals thanks to using the right tires in wet track conditions.

Meanwhile, Marc Marquez is confirmed to be absent in Brno for the second postoperative recovery of the humerus. The defending MotoGP champion will be replaced by Honda test rider Stefan Bradl.