Valentino Rossi to leave Yamaha and join Ducati
After numerous rumours and reports, Yamaha, Ducati and Valentino Rossi confirmed this Sunday at Brno that the reigning World Champion would not be a part of the Japanese team Yamaha for the 2011 season. Rossi will now join the Italian factory Ducati and wants to seek a new challenge. The Italian racer has won four Moto GP Championships during his time with Yamaha. He explained the motivation for his decision for leaving Yamaha after a 7-year relationship with them.
Rossi believes that his work with the Japanese team is done and the situation between the team has changed a lot since the year 2004. He thinks M1 maybe the best bike in the Moto GP and Yamaha has great drivers so they do not need him anymore.
Valentino joined the 125cc Championship in the year 1996 and had his first race in Malaysia. The Italian gave an outstanding performance in his first year, scored his first pole position at the Czech Republic, and won the race there. Rossi stayed in the 125cc for 2 years and during this time scored 12 Grand Prix Victories, one 2nd position, two 3rd positions, 15 podiums and 5 poles. He won 1 Championship in the 125cc before joining the 250 cc where he where he scored his first victory at the Netherlands that very year. He scored 14 Grand Prix Victories, five 2nd positions, two 3rd positions, making it 21 podiums and secured the Championship once. The Italian joined the Moto GP in 2000 and had a similar start by scoring a win in his very first season in the British Grand Prix.
Rossi has been one of the most dominant racers in the Moto GP. He scored 78 Grand Prix victories, thirty-six 2nd positions, eighteen 3rd positions making it 132 podiums and 49 pole positions. In an almost 10-year career, Valentino Rossi has been able to win 7 Championships which is the second most impressive performance by a driver in Moto GP history. Valentino scored 63 fastest laps in his career that is a record. The 31-year old has broken many records including the record of most wins, most podiums, most podiums in a single season, most consecutive podiums that is 23 podiums from 2002 Portuguese GP to the 2004 South Africa GP, Second person to win 5 consecutive championships in 2001-2005 along with Michael Doohan and behind Giacomo Agostini. Valentino is the only driver to score over 4000 all time points in the history of grand prix motorcycle racing along with most all time poles and most all time podiums. The Italian has definitely been the most impressive driver in the history of the sport.
Rossi has signed a two-year contract with Ducati and seems quite excited about the prospect of linking with the Bologna Factory. The Italian believes the experience will be quite interesting for him and is curious about it. “I think an Italian rider on an Italian bike will be great for all Italian fans. I think we’ll have a lot of fans cheering for us”, stated Valentino.
The Italian joined Yamaha in 2004 after leaving Honda and continued his championship-winning streak for 2 more years. Rossi regained the title in 2008. Yamaha has had one of its peak times with Valentino Rossi and always had a special relationship with him.
Rossi is expected to test the Ducati Desmosedici for the first time at Valencia in November but it is not confirmed yet, as he might not be able to due to contractual commitments. The 31-year old believes that Yamaha will not say no to this as they have had a unique relationship with Valentino. The Italian will be very upset if the team says no making the situation quite similar to the one Valentino had to face during his time with Honda. Rossi said, “If I can’t do it then I don’t understand the relationship between me and Yamaha”.
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