After finishing sixth at Austin last year Valentino Rossi’s goal is clear at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas this weekend.

Rossi had a brilliant start to the 2014 season, starting from tenth on the grid, the Italian battled through the field to fight Marc Marquez for victory in Qatar. In the end he was second by just 0.259s and now he aims to maintain his return to competitiveness by improving on last year’s showing at COTA.

“I really want to go to Austin, especially after the first race in Qatar,” says the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP man. “The season started well but now we need confirmation. Last year I made one of the worst races of the season in Texas, and this year I want to see if we can be competitive everywhere.”

“Getting a good result in Austin would mean a lot for me and for Yamaha. It would mean that the direction taken is the right one. We will try to do our best to be competitive also on the Austin circuit. I'd like to have fun like I did in Qatar.”

For Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo, meanwhile, it has been a challenging start to his 2014 campaign. The Spaniard led the pack at Qatar after one of his typically fast starts, but unfortunately crashed out of the race on the first lap.

This weekend he sets out to reach the podium in Texas, where he took third position last year.

“After a very disappointing race result in Qatar I look forward to racing at Austin to try to get a good result and forget as soon as possible all the things that happened in Losail,” comments Lorenzo. “COTA was not one of the best tracks for us last year. We had some difficulties to adapt our bike to the layout and lack of grip but finally we found out how to manage for the race. In the end we got a good result and we finished only three seconds behind the winner. I guess this year the pace could be even better because our bike has made one step ahead with the new seamless and the chassis is pretty good.”

“Also, I feel almost perfect, physically at one hundred per cent and that is so important to try to fight for the victory elsewhere.”