Yamaha
and Valentino Rossi together again in 2007
Mugello, Italy 1/6/2006
Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd is delighted to announce that
Valentino Rossi will remain with the Japanese factory
in 2007, racing for a fourth year with Yamaha’s
Factory Team in the MotoGP World Championship. Rossi
will continue to spearhead Yamaha’s Grand Prix
challenge and bike development, as MotoGP enters a
new era of 800cc racing in 2007.
Rossi has enjoyed huge success with Yamaha since he
joined the factory just over two years ago and every
one of his races has captured the true spirit of ‘Kando’,
the Japanese word for the sensation of intense excitement
that we experience when we encounter something of
supreme quality.
The Italian won the championship with the YZR-M1 on
his first try in 2004 and again in 2005, when Yamaha
took a clean-sweep of Riders’, Team and Manufacturers’
Championships in the year of it’s 50th Anniversary.
2006 has proved more difficult for the World Champion,
with just one win so far this season after a series
of unfortunate occurrences, but Yamaha has every faith
that Rossi will recover his winning-form, starting
at his home Grand Prix in Mugello this weekend.
Speaking from Mugello today, Yamaha Motor Racing Managing
Director Lin Jarvis commented, “We are firstly
delighted that Valentino has chosen to stay in MotoGP.
He is a great ambassador for motorcycle racing in
general and extremely important to the global image
of this sport. He is the most talented and the fastest
rider on the grid and the benchmark to which others
aspire.
“We are extremely happy that Valentino has chosen
to continue his illustrious MotoGP career with Yamaha
in 2007. Yamaha and Valentino have an excellent relationship
and we have enjoyed great success together since our
partnership was born in 2004. It’s exciting
news for Yamaha’s fans; Valentino’s worldwide
appeal unites them under one banner and brings more
and more people daily into the Yamaha ‘family’.
“Of course it’s of key importance to us
that Valentino will now be in a position to lead the
development of Yamaha’s new 800cc project for
2007. His input will be invaluable and we believe
we will be able to challenge to win the title next
year with the new bike. Both Valentino and Yamaha
relish the new challenge ahead.
“In the meantime our short term goal is to provide
him with the means to defend his MotoGP title this
year. We are confident that Valentino can recover
from an unlucky start to his title defence, starting
at our Factory Team’s home race in Mugello this
weekend.”
“I’m very pleased to be staying with Yamaha
next year”, announced the 27-year-old from Tavullia,
“These past two years with Yamaha have been
two of the best of my career and I am extremely happy
to stay with them and with my team. I believe I have
made the right choice and I am very excited about
the challenge of a new class of racing with Yamaha
next year.”
