As MotoGP fans know by now, nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi has recently announced his retirement as a MotoGP rider at the end of the 2021 season. Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. and Yamaha Motor Racing has expressed their gratitude to Rossi for the – still ongoing – 16 fantastic years of partnership. Yamaha has stated they will still maintain a close working relationship with the Italian after 2021 through various collaborations including the VR46 Riders Academy and the ‘Yamaha VR46 Master Camp’ training and racing programmes.
For those who don’t know, Yamaha and Rossi’s partnership journey began with that iconic victory at Valentino’s first GP race for Yamaha in South Africa in 2004. From there on, both Yamaha and Rossi has created many exhilarating moments in the paddock and off the track. Rossi with his YZR-M1 has secured 142 podiums, celebrating 56 GP victories to date, and winning four MotoGP World Championship Titles in 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009.
This achievement got The Doctor (Rossi’s nickname in MotoGP) to be recognised in the world as on of the “GOAT” (Greatest of All Time) GP rider. Despite the retirement announcement, both The Doctor will remained on a upbeat to end the 2021 season with PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team. Rossi also mentioned he will mostly to switch to four-wheel racing series after his MotoGP retirement.
What do you think of Rossi’s MotoGP retirement announcement? Do you feel Rossi should continue on or perhaps switch to another motorcycle racing series? Let us know in the comments!
Credit to: Yamaha Motor and Yamaha Motor Racing
Valentino Rossi quick facts
With 26 Grand Prix seasons under his belt and still competing at the age of 42, Rossi is known as one of the greatest riders of all time. He equals Mike Hailwood and Carlo Ubbiali, who both also wrote nine titles to their names in all classes; only Giacomo Agostini and Ángel Nieto have more. With 56 wins from 264 races Rossi is the most successful Yamaha racer of all time. Moreover, Rossi is the only rider to win premier class titles on five different types of motorcycles (500cc 4-cylinder two-stroke, 990cc 5-cylinder four-stroke, Yamaha 990cc 4-cylinder four-stroke, Yamaha 800cc 4-cylinder four-stroke, and a Yamaha 1000cc 4-cylinder four-stroke).
RECORDS & HIGHLIGHTS
- Rossi is the most successful Yamaha rider in history (56 wins, 46 second places, 40 third places on a Yamaha, scored in 264 races so far).
- He is the rider that’s been active the longest in Grand Prix racing (he made his debut in 1996, this is his 26th season, and he has made 423 Grand Prix starts in total, of which 363 were in the premier class).
- He competed the most seasons on a Yamaha in the MotoGP class (this is his 16th season).
- He secured the most podiums for Yamaha in the MotoGP class (so far, he has stood on the rostrum with Yamaha 142 times).
- He holds the most first places for Yamaha in the MotoGP class (56 wins).
- He completed 230 races back-to-back, without missing one (from his debut in 1996 in Malaysia until the race in Mugello in 2010).
- He holds the record for most races started overall and in the premier class. (He has started in 423 GP races across all classes; 363 of which have been in the premier class and 264 of those races he rode on a Yamaha.)
- He was the first rider to take back-to-back premier-class victories with different manufacturers (after his win at the 2004 season-opening GP in South Africa).
- He achieved the highest number of premier-class victories in a single season by a Yamaha rider (11 wins in 2005).
- He stood on the podium in the premier class on 199 occasions.
- He has been on the podium 235 times across all classes.
- He is the only Grand Prix rider that also excels in rally racing. (He is a seven-time winner of the Monza Rally Show and won the GTE Am-class of the 2019 Gulf 12 Hours at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.)
- Out of Yamaha’s 516 Grand Prix victories, 11% were secured by him, making Rossi the biggest contributing rider (56 victories of the 516 GP wins secured by Yamaha).
- He is the only active Grand Prix racer who is also a lower-classes team owner at the same time.
- He secured 6,330 points in total (before the 2021 Styria GP), if you combine his results over all the classes he competed in (125cc, 250cc, 500cc, MotoGP).