Valentino Rossi stresses that he will be trying his upmost to assist Jorge Lorenzo at this weekend’s Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, as his Yamaha Factory Racing teammate vies for the title against Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez.

Following consecutive race victories at Phillip Island and Twin Ring Motegi, Lorenzo sits second in the riders’ standings and the reduced margin of 13 points behind Marquez. Lorenzo may have been a chief rival of Rossi’s in past seasons, but the Italian insists that he will be doing all he can to help the Spaniard on this occasion.

"Usually Valencia is not one of my best tracks but I have had some good podiums there and some wins," Rossi begins. "As always, we have to try and do the maximum for the weekend. If I am strong enough, I want to try and help Jorge as much as possible on Sunday and also to be on the podium."

2013 marks the first time since 2006 that MotoGP™ has witnessed a last-race title decider; it was Yamaha versus Honda on that occasion as well, as Rossi lost out to American Nicky Hayden.