Just two days after the race in Austin, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team were heading to Termas de Río Hondo for this weekend’s Gran Premio de la República Argentina.

Valentino Rossi arrives in South America fresh from a third place podium finish at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Still topping the World Championship standings, the nine-time World Champion looks forward to bettering his position from last year‘s race at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, when he finished just off the podium in fourth place.

Despite being ill last week, teammate and four-time World Champion Jorge Lorenzo still managed to take fourth at COTA. Currently holding fifth place in the championship, he hopes to return to a hundred per cent level of fitness for Sunday’s race where he will be challenging for another strong result, like his third place at the Argentinian track from last year.

Though officially inaugurated on May 11, 2008, the 4.8km long Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit was not added to the MotoGP calendar until last year after it was remodeled in 2012. The re-design aimed to turn the track into Latin America’s most modern and safest circuit, providing fans with even more exciting racing action. With a fun lay out that includes a mixture of fast corners (five left and nine right) and a 1076m in length longest straight, this year‘s Gran Premio de la República Argentina is likely to be another showstopper.

Valentino Rossi - Championship: 1st 

"I’m happy to go to Argentina because I like the track. We hope that there will be a better condition of the tarmac compared to last year, because the track and the lay out are good. It’s also not a bad circuit for our YZR-M1, but first we take a few days of rest and then we‘ll try to be focused and prepared for the race."

Jorge Lorenzo - Championship: 5th 

"After being fourth again in Austin I look forward to facing Argentina to try to gain momentum. I think we have solved the first races, where we struggle a bit because of different issues, in the best way possible. We are fifth in the championship, but this is still at the kick off stage. I feel good in terms of riding and also with the bike. Unfortunately I was sick the whole week in Austin and I wasn‘t able to be in a perfect shape to fight for the podium. I hope Argentina will suit us better. In Termas the circuit is pretty nice to ride and last year, even if I wasn‘t in an optimal shape, I still managed to get on the podium. It‘s a fast track with very nice corners and I guess this is good news for our bike."

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director 

"After a good race in Austin we‘re on our way to Argentina. We are in a good position because we are leading the championship and we have good prospects for the coming races. The circuit in Argentina is nice and suits the Yamaha quite well. It‘s our second time visiting the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit and I expect that it‘s going to be another intense race between Yamaha, Honda and Ducati. We go into this weekend with the intention to keep up our performances from the last two rounds and we look forward to getting started."