Valentino Rossi
starts his fourth campaign as a
Yamaha Factory Team rider in 2007
with the clear target of recapturing
the MotoGP World Championship title
after being dethroned by Nicky Hayden
last year. After winning two consecutive
World Championships with Yamaha
in 2004 and 2005, following on from
three previous back-to-back title
successes, Rossi finished runner-up
to the American despite scoring
ten podiums and winning five races
- more than any other rider. Now
the record-breaking Italian, widely
regarded as the finest motorcycle
racer of his generation, starts
the season without the crown to
defend for the first time in five
years.
Rossi’s five
wins in 2006 took his premier-class
career tally to 58, leaving him
within striking distance of the
legendary Giacomo Agostini’s
all-time record of 68 – another
enticing target for the 2007 season.
For the third consecutive campaign
Valentino will be ably assisted
by his trusted team-mate and great
friend Colin Edwards, as the pair
apply their highly effective development
partnership to Yamaha’s all-new
800cc machine and attempt to regain
the Manufacturers' and Teams' titles
they won together in 2005.
Rossi's World Championship
debut came at the Malaysian Grand
Prix in 1996 and he finished his
first international season in 9th
place with one race win. The following
year he became the youngest ever
rider to win the 125cc World Championship,
winning eleven races along the way
with Aprilia. The pattern continued
when he moved into the 250cc class,
taking second place in his first
year before becoming World Champion
in 1999, once again with Aprilia.
In 2000 he entered a new phase of
his career when he joined forces
with Honda in the 500cc class. He
proved his worth once again by finishing
second, before becoming the last
ever 500cc World Champion in 2001.
Rossi held onto his crown four the
next four consecutive seasons, taking
the MotoGP World title in 2002 and
2003, before moving to Yamaha and
winning again in 2004 and 2005.
Rossi made history
by moving to Yamaha in 2004 and
winning the season-opening Grand
Prix in South Africa, becoming the
first rider in the history of the
sport to win back-to-back premier
class races for different manufacturers.
He went on to win nine out of 16
races, finally clinching the World
Championship title, Yamaha's first
for 12 years, with victory at the
penultimate Grand Prix in Phillip
Island. A final win at the Valencia
Grand Prix also ensured that the
Yamaha Factory Team won the team
title. Rossi followed up that triumph
with a season of unprecedented success
in 2005, when he successfully defended
the title once again with a total
of eleven race wins and five pole
positions - only finishing off the
podium once.
Rossi turned 28
in February 2007 and remains the
youngest rider to have won World
Championships in all three classes.
He continues to have the support
of his long-standing Crew Chief,
Jeremy Burgess, who moved from Honda
to work with him at Yamaha Factory
Racing.
One of the most
popular members of the paddock,
'The Doctor' has a wide fan base
all over the world. A keen football
fan and an accomplished rally driver,
he is based in London between races.
