We must maintain respect between Rossi and Lorenzo - Yahama principal

Tension between the team-mates soared by the end of last season, with the two battling each other for the MotoGP world championship. Despite leading the standings for the majority of the year Rossi lost the title by just five points to Lorenzo in a dramatic climax to the season.

Published : Jan 21, 2016 19:22 IST

Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi
Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi
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Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi

Yamaha team principal Lin Jarvis hailed the unity within the garage but said they need to make sure they can "maintain the respect" between riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Tension between the team-mates soared by the end of last season, with the two battling each other for the MotoGP world championship. 

Despite leading the standings for the majority of the year Rossi lost the title by just five points to Lorenzo in a dramatic climax to the season. Rossi accused Marc Marquez and other Spanish riders of helping their compatriot Lorenzo, but admitted the Spaniard was deserving of a third world title. 

Jarvis said fostering respect between the two is integral for more Yamaha success in 2016. 

"We are fortunate that within the garage we have a very good strong unified team, whilst we recognise that our riders are each other’s main rivals," he told MotoGP.com . "So I don’t think we are going to see anything dramatically different this year. Surely the riders will remember the experiences at the end of last year as it is still quite recent, but for all of them they will just look forward. 

"You have to look forward as there is no point in harping back to what could have and what should have been. So they will all go forward wiser I hope. What we need to do is foster and retain that respect between the riders, this is very, very important. 

"We have a great show, with fantastic racing, and it very important that we can maintain the respect between the teams and the riders themselves and put on a good sporting show for the fans."

The MotoGP season begins on March 20 in Qatar. 

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