Home / Motorsport News /
MotoGP: Valentino Rossi Returns To Yamaha
With the following breaking press release from Yamaha Factory Racing today the return of Valentino Rossi to Yamaha is confirmed. The Italian maestro will race the next two seasons for the Japanese manufacturer.
It is with great pleasure that Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd confirms the signing of Valentino Rossi to ride for the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team for 2013 and 2014.
Valentino Rossi first joined Yamaha in 2004 and achieved four MotoGP World Champion titles with the Yamaha YZR-M1 in 2004 and 2005 and again in 2008 and 2009. He won 46 Grand Prix races with Yamaha over a 7 year period before leaving at the end of the 2010 MotoGP season.
Rossi, who is presently 8th in the Championship standings, will partner Jorge Lorenzo who currently leads the 2012 MotoGP World Championship by 23 points, having taken five victories from the first ten completed races of the 18 race series.
Lin Jarvis – Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Racing
“This announcement is once again excellent news for Yamaha. In June we were able to sign Jorge Lorenzo for the 2013-14 campaign and now we are able to confirm Valentino Rossi for the next two years. In doing so we have been able to put together the strongest possible team to challenge for victories and to promote the Yamaha brand.
We have run this ‘super team’ together in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and during that time we achieved the ‘triple crown’ titles with Rider, Manufacturer and Team World Championship victories for three consecutive years.
The target for the future is obvious and we will do our utmost to achieve our goals.
I have no doubt that with the experience, knowledge, skills and speed of these two great champion riders we will be able to challenge for many race wins and for the 2013 and 2014 World Championship titles.
The signing of Valentino completes our future planning for the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team. Now that this is done we will put our 100% efforts into completing the job at hand and to supporting Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo in their search for race victories and for Jorge’s 2012 World Championship title challenge.”
For more on MotoGP visit our Motorcycle Racing forum
Share this Post
Tags
Related Posts
- rFactor 2 Racing Club This Week / 21
- V8 Supercars: Whincup Takes Second Victory in Austin
- GTL Racing Club This Week / 21
- V8 Supercars: Whincup Wins Inaugural Race in Texas
- 2013 Nürburgring 24 Hours (Live Stream)
- ELMS: 3 Hours of Imola (Live Stream)
- Le Mans 24H: Audi Aerodynamically Optimized
- Assetto Corsa: Featuring the Ferrari 458 GT2
- EnduRacers: BMW and Lola Aston Martin Screenshots
- YourRaceDepartment: Announcement
24 Comments
Even Rossi has limits
Lorenzo will beat him again.
Who will fill up the gap at Ducati now? Or will they withdraw from the sport?
Epicness
Lorenzo may well beat Rossi at this stage of his career , but he’ll need a minor miracle to even hope of matching Rossi’s achievements in the sport .
Ive heard stories it could be Dovizioso on the Duke….
But that thing needs some serious development work before ANYONE gets it back on the podium.
Welcome back Rossi
I think Cal Crutchlow could turn out to be a very good fit for the Duke. No nonsense guy that would point the bike at a corner and say "you will go there" other than the other way around.
He might well have been hanging around for a possible factory ride at Yamaha, but now that has gone for two years at least, why not a factory tilt with Ducati? I believe Bradley Smith is due a ride next year for Tech 3 so it could well be possible.
There are talks of a 2 yr contract in the offing for Cal, but as yet it seems he hasn’t received any written offers to peruse with his management. I think the Audi buyout of Ducati could be what is holding up getting the deal done, as like ML2166 says, I believe Bradley Smith is being lined up for Tech 3 next year, so it seems Cal will be moving somewhere, if not Ducati.
One word " Audi", that’s who’ll fill gap with the money and desire to make a success out of Ducati.
Rossi and Ducati split as we’ve been talking about in the Ben Spies thread. Both parties have egg on their face although Ducati have come away looking worst. Dorna are no doubt happy with this result; they need to wring every cent from their cash cow before his retirement and what better way to do it for "the show". Rossi will be contending for wins and podiums next year for sure.
I wonder what Lorenzo thinks of the move as he’ll most likely provide Yamaha with another world title and their second in three seasons.
Picture says it all. He wants to eat Rossi for breakfast, lunch and diner.
I think it will be much closer next year between Valentino and Jorge than people think.
I firmly believe Valentino feels he may have a point to prove next year. Especially after the last two torrid seasons he’s had.
Some people have begun to write him off, for whatever reasons, whether it be the bike, or his age, his hunger for the sport. But turning down what has been touted as a 70 million Euro contract offer from Ducati, I think speaks volumes as to what his motivation is going to be for next year.
Going in as what I presume is going to be a number 2 rider, I think will suit Valentino very nicely….no expectations as such, no real pressure etc etc. A relaxed Valentino is a dangerous Valentino.
But….albeit a small but….let’s not forget about a certain Mr Marc Marquez at Repsol next year. He could in fact be the one they all should be watching out for next year!
Lorenzo made a big Splash when he entered MotoGP, I think with the experience Marc Marquez is gaining as he goes along, combined with the huge talent he has and add to that dropping into one of the very top factory teams, could prove to be one of the riders to watch out for next year.
Thank fek for that, at least Rossi actually has some chance of retiring with his head held high should he be able to perform again properly…….mugello accident took the wind from his sails I fear tho…..
I wonder if Yamaha will build another wall down their pitlane like they did in 2010.
I think it will be close between them for sure. Wouldn’t like to call it either way to be honest. We all know Rossi had the skill set to challenge Jorge, but age waits for no man.
Whether he beats him or not, its the sport and the series that wins when Valentino has a competitive bike. Just like all other sports and series MotoGP needs its legends mixing it up at the front, getting in front of they’re cameras and press and generally making news stories.
awesome news
Rossi WC 2013 & 2014!
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/stoner-launches-motogp-attack-on-rossi-20120815-248bz.html
So the saga starts again…
I think it has more to do with the stubborn way Ducati builds their bikes.
They don´t want to build the best bike, they want to build the best Ducati.
I think Rossi has tried like hell to make them change things then got tired of it.
We knew it was coming anyway. The Ducati is not for most riders. It’s the "muscle car" of motorcycles – max top speed but terrible handling. Hayden is relatively happy there because he likes the whole monster horsepower and tail-sliding it provides.
Rossi’s nickname says it all – "The Doctor." He likes handling and smooth surgical precision. The Ducati is a chainsaw whereas Rossi wants a scapel. You could take the Stoner route and argue that is a flaw in Rossi’s ultimate ability, but when he gets what he wants the results are unequaled.
In many ways, this is pretty similar to what Schumacher is going through in F1. He excelled in the days when you could push the car hard and essentially drive with the rear end. Now with the fragile Pirellis and new aero rules he’s finding it hard to adjust to. That doesn’t mean his accomplishments and ultimate talent level are any less.
It appears More Crap than News made up the Stoner quotes to stir the pot as per usual:
Q: Valentino, Casey has said this week, described a humbling experience for you. Has this been humbling, this a disappointing time –
STONER: I want to clarify that. That was a lot of context taken out. It was the whole last year and a half. I never did interview and never said anything like that last week. I still stand by what I said, but it’s been over the last year and a half that it was put together.
Q: OK. So has this been a humbling experience for you?
ROSSI: I don’t know what’s been humbling? Oh, I cannot say no. I mean, you can use which word you prefer. I mean it was very, very difficult, is very difficult. It’s not true that we don’t try, we try the maximum. But we were never able to be — I was never able to be fast with the Ducati, and this is a great, great pity, a very bad thing, especially for me and for my team.
http://motomatters.com/interview/2012/08/16/ims_press_release_2012_indianapolis_moto.html
:sneaky: Rossi is a cool dude a motorsport legend
go Rossi 46
Kenny Roberts will still be the best GP rider of all times.Remember the days of the two stroke?Yamaha was and will always will be the best team.To bad Rossi had to leave Yamaha.I for one,welcome him back.He can only add to his wins and make a stronger team.Lorenzo is a talented rider.With a few more years of experience,he could be one of the greatest.Time will tell.I hope Rossi kicks his ass though.