Rossi: I'll decide MotoGP future during summer break
Valentino Rossi is unlikely to make an announcement on his MotoGP future during his home Italian round at Mugello later this month, instead confirming he plans to wait until the summer break.
While some close to Rossi had suggested rounds 6-7 (Mugello and Catalunya) could be soon enough for a decision, the Italian told Indonesia's Trans7 TV channel:
"Speaking with Petronas and Yamaha it's more half-season, because after nine races we have the summer break and I think I will decide for next year in that period, after nine races."
The summer break now starts after Assen (round 9) on June 25-27 and runs until the Styrian round on August 6-8.
Rossi's own future options are also increasingly linked to the choice of machinery for his Aramco-backed VR46 team's 2022 MotoGP debut.
Prior to Le Mans, Rossi looked to have two main choices should he wish to race on; stay at the satellite Petronas Yamaha team, or switch to his own VR46 squad, perhaps with Ducati.
But after previously stating VR46 were 'speaking with everyone' about bikes, Rossi revealed at Le Mans that it’s now a '50-50' decision between Yamaha and Ducati.
In other words, VR46 could yet become the satellite Yamaha team at the expense of Petronas, in which case Rossi's decision would simply be whether to ride for his own team next year (alongside brother Luca Marini) or retire.
If Rossi elects to continue his record-breaking career he will also be lining up on the grid for the debut of Indonesia's new Mandalika circuit, currently pencilled in for March of next year.
"I'm happy if I can race also in 2022 and come to Indonesia, but we need to wait for the results and if I can be competitive, so at this moment I cannot promise anything but I will try to be there in 2022," Rossi told Trans7.
"[Mandalika] looks like a fast track with some fast corners, which is usually fun, but to understand well we need to try with the bike.
"It will be very demanding because Indonesia is very hot. I raced in Indonesia in '96 and '97 and I remember it is maybe hotter than Malaysia! But the sea is very close, so if it's too hot we'll go into the sea!"
Rossi's only real highlight during a difficult season so far has been qualifying fourth on the grid in Qatar.
The 42-year-old felt he made progress at the Jerez test and featured inside the top ten in both the dry and wet sessions at Le Mans but could only manage eleventh in Sunday's flag-to-flag race.
It was still Rossi's best result of the year, with former factory Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales just ahead of him, on a day when Fabio Quartararo put his M1 on the podium.
"The mixed conditions for us were a big shame because I was strong in the wet," Rossi said on Sunday evening. "This morning I was good in warm-up. I was fast in the full wet. Also my pace was not so bad in the dry. We could do a good race. But the mixed conditions when it is half-and-half is where we suffer quite a lot.
"We could do a bit better if we started with the medium rain trye instead of the soft, but we expect the rain a lot later. The result is nothing special, but it remains a better weekend, we confirmed the improvement in the test in Jerez. I can fight for stay in the top ten, but in the end the race was like this."
