BARCELONA, Spain , 14 June 2003 — Valentino Rossi’s dream of becoming the world’s greatest ever rider will take a step closer to reality this weekend when victory in the Catalunya Grand Prix will put him level on career wins with Australian legend Mick Doohan.

“Valentino has clearly demonstrated he’s the best guy out there,” said Doohan, a fivetime world champion. “He is ready to go racing on a week-by-week basis and that’s how you put championships together. He’s also got a good motorcycle, with the Honda RC211V, and the best team in the business behind him.”

Rossi’s win at the Italian Grand Prix last week was his 53rd career victory and it stretched the world champion’s lead at the top of the 2003 standings to 32 points over fellow Italian Max Biaggi.

A repeat performance tomorrow will bring him level with Doohan, also a former Honda rider, and the 24-year-old will start as favorite on the Montmelo track having won here for the last two years. “The win at Mugello last week was a huge spectacle for the crowd as well as for the riders,” said Rossi. One of his main rivals tomorrow will be Loris Capirossi on the Ducati after he set the fastest lap on the circuit during winter testing. Capirossi, a former 125cc and 250cc world champion, was second in Italy last Sunday after winning a thrilling wheel-towheel duel with Biaggi.

Spaniard Sete Gibernau, who has won two of the five rounds this season, was a poor seventh on his Honda last weekend but on his home track here he enjoys a steady, if not spectacular, record with a podium and three top five finishes to add to a Spanish Grand Prix win at Valencia.

Japan’s Makoto Tamata, who enjoyed his best performance last week on his Honda when he came in fourth, is confident of improving tomorrow. “Even though I got my best result, fourth, I was a long way from the first three and my objective is to fight with them.”

Schumacher Can Walk Away

When He Wants, Says Todt

In Montreal, Michael Schumacher can walk out of Ferrari whenever he wants, team boss Jean Todt said on Thursday. The five times Formula One world champion this week announced he intended to stay at the Italian team until the end of the 2006 season, two years beyond the terms of his previous contract.

Todt said Ferrari would not stand in the German’s way if he decided to quit before then. “Everybody knows that I’m in very close contact with Michael, so I’ll know before anybody else what he feels, what he thinks,” Todt told reporters at the Canadian Grand Prix.

“And I knew since a long, long time that he did not want to stop. But saying that, you can have whatever contract you want in your pocket and one day, if Michael says he’s had enough, that will be enough. It’s his decision.