MotoGP News: Valentino Rossi Joins Ducati for Two-Year Period
It has been officially confirmed that Valentino Rossi, nine-time (and reigning) MotoGP champion, will join his home team Ducati for two years, starting from the 2011 season. His current team, Yamaha, has also announced the departure of the Italian legend.
Valentino Rossi has attained an iconic status in MotoGP, as he has achieved a lot of success over the years. The 31-year old Italian is considered as the best rider of all time, as he has graced MotoGP with plenty of memories and stories of remarkable success. He is currently associated with Fiat Yamaha Team, and he has been a part of it for seven seasons.
Valentino Rossi started his career in the premier class with the Repsol Honda factory team. He had all the credentials to compete with the greatest of the game, and he proved himself to be worthy by winning the championships in his two years with Repsol Honda. At that time, Yamaha was struggling in MotoGP, as there had been fifteen long years since the team had won any title. The bike was average, while the riders struggled on their machine.
However, as soon as Rossi came to Yamaha, things changed drastically. Rossi proved himself to be the best by giving the team their first win in 2004, in his first season of association. After such incredible success, there was nothing that could stop Rossi or Yamaha, as Rossi won the title again in 2005. After that, there were two seasons of average performances, as Yamaha was unable to match the performance of other teams in MotoGP. However, for the last two years, Rossi was again in his top form, winning two consecutive championships and taking his total tally to four titles with Yamaha.
This season started well for the Italian, as he remained within reach of the leader, Jorge Lorenzo, until Valencia. However, after a misfortune at Mugello, Rossi remained out for four races, his first miss since he joined motorsports in 1996. Due to this, he would not be able to claim another title this season, which is a great loss to MotoGP fans around the world.
When Yamaha issued their official statement, they acknowledged everything that Rossi brought to their team. In short, the whole team was thankful to Rossi for his amazing stay at Yamaha, which got the team out of trouble and into the limelight. Rossi was also thankful to Yamaha team; however, he was more grateful to his M1 machine. During his statement, Rossi showed a great deal of compassion towards his M1 bike, which helped him in winning four amazing titles.
Ducati, on the other hand, has struggled since Rossi joined the Premier Class. Their only victory came with Casey Stoner in the year 2007. Since then, there has been a downward trend in their performances. Also, Casey Stoner decided to join Honda for his next season, which left Ducati team with limited options for their future.
However, with Rossi joining the team, things would change drastically. The Ducati team is in better shape than Yamaha at the time of Rossi’s arrival. With a little effort from the team and cooperation with Rossi, Ducati could transform into a better team than any other in MotoGP’s history.
However, this association carries immense importance for one particular reason. Amidst the Asian teams of Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda and Kawasaki, Ducati is only European machine in MotoGP representing the Italian pride. Therefore, when Rossi joins Ducati, it would be a perfect association for the Italian fans. This might even be better than the relationship between Max Biaggi and Ducati.
Therefore, in their official statement, the president of the Ducati team expressed great pleasure and enthusiasm about Rossi’s move. He believed that this was the best thing that has happened to his team after a very long time. Also, the entire team showed their eagerness to work with Rossi, in order to bring success in the next season.
There is a long time before we could judge whether this would be a perfect association or not. Right now, there are still eight races left in the current season, and Rossi should be concentrating on nothing but finishing his season in style.
Tags: