"It was a crucial event for him," Poncharal said. "It was his home round, and it was important to him to prove that he was a great rider. He had just come back from a disappointing race in the Suzuka 8 Hours, where he crashed, and he was suffering from jetlag.
"But he made the announcement that he was joining Tech 3 Yamaha, handled all the media congratulations before
Brands Hatch, the pressure of being the championship leader and the crowd's expectations, won two races and extended his points lead. For me that was the mark of a great champion."
Friday pm - Dunlop Fight to Keep Tech 3
There's been widespread speculation that Tech 3 will switch to Michelin or
Bridgestone next, but Dunlop competition chief Jeremy Ferguson confirmed at Brno that he's fighting to retain the link with the French team.
"Our position is very clear: we want to continue with them," Ferguson said. "All we can do is work on producing better tyres, week in, week out. If we carry on in the way we've been doing in the last couple of races, we'll be competitive."
Fate then smiled on Dunlop, who have suffered some fairly extensive criticism this season, when
Sylvain Guintoli finished fastest in the opening day's practice session.
Admittedly he'd gone out to test a qualifier when all the front-runners were busy working on race tyres, but it was a handy morale boost for Ferguson and Poncharal.
Friday am - Rossi Scraps Round-Table Chats
Fearing hostile questioning about his tax affairs from Italian journalists,
Valentino Rossi has abandoned at Brno one of the highlights of a
MotoGP weekend - his 'fireside chats', post-practice and post-race, with the media.
At the end of every day Rossi normally bounds into the Yamaha hospitality unit - a few minutes late, of course - grabs a chair and opens up to the journalists clustered around. It's so informal that you can find yourself jostling elbows and knees with the seven-times world champ, partly because Italians don't need that 1.5-metre space around them that Brits require to feel comfortable.
