Yamaha: 'Living legend' Rossi will be 'deeply missed'

Yamaha president & CEO Yoshihiro Hidaka and Yamaha Motor Racing managing director Lin Jarvis have paid tribute to Valentino Rossi following the nine time world champions announcement that he is to retire from MotoGP at the end of this season.

Rossi shocked the two-wheel world when he left Honda as the reigning triple world champion at the end of 2003 to join the then struggling Yamaha factory, which had managed only a single podium that season and was without a world title since Wayne Rainey in 1992.

The Italian stunned by winning his very first race on the M1 (pictured) en route to title glory, adding further championships in 2005, 2008 and 2009. After two sour seasons at Ducati, Rossi then returned to Yamaha in 2013, where he went on to win a further ten races and finish title runner-up in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Without a race win since 2017, Rossi lost his Factory team seat to Fabio Quartararo this season and is currently halfway through his final year as a MotoGP rider at the satellite Petronas Yamaha team.

Interestingly, although Rossi's new VR46 MotoGP squad will use Ducati machines next season, Yamaha 'will continue to support Rossi in his future endeavours. They will retain a close working relationship with him through various collaborations including the VR46 Riders Academy and the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp training and racing programmes.'

"First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Valentino for the great partnership we enjoyed with him. He will be deeply missed on track, inside the paddock, and behind the scenes at Yamaha, but we fully respect his decision," said Yamaha president Hidaka.

“At Yamaha we take great pride in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing legacy that we have created together. The 16 years we will have spent as partners were filled with epic battles on track and wins. At Yamaha we always strive to give our fans and customers the feeling of 'Kando'. In a way, Valentino‘s entire career at Yamaha embodies this quest for the deep satisfaction and intense excitement that we experience when we encounter something of exceptional value.

"We are all very pleased that Valentino has decided to remain a Yamaha rider until the end of his MotoGP racing career and beyond.

“There are too many great moments between Yamaha and Valentino to pick one as a favourite. There were also challenges throughout the years, but the trust between us never wavered and even strengthened our partnership through the years.

“Valentino‘s achievements were made both on and off the track, and they make up a large and important part of Yamaha‘s racing heritage. We thank him for his incredible efforts, unequalled skills, and never-failing passion and optimism. We are proud to have been a part of his unique success story. We will forever cherish the precious memories we made together and hope to keep adding to them with him as a Yamaha brand ambassador."

Jarvis, one of those involved in completing Rossi's deal to join Yamaha for 2004, added:

"First of all, I would like to thank Valentino sincerely, on behalf of Yamaha Motor Racing, for the special partnership between him and Yamaha.

“We were privileged to be key players in a legendary Grand Prix era, with Valentino fortifying Yamaha‘s rider line-up for 16 – still ongoing – seasons. The now iconic partnership between Yamaha and Rossi started almost like a fairy tale.

"Rossi won that incredible race at Welkom in 2004, his first GP with Yamaha. His arrival at Yamaha was the catalyst that completely changed our MotoGP racing programme, and he gave us the confidence to regain our challenging spirit and once again become MotoGP World Champions.

"Since 2004 we have completed to date 264 races, together we secured 56 wins, 46 second places, 40 third places, and we won four MotoGP World Championship Titles in 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009 respectively.

"Valentino is a living legend whose successes and personal flair contributed to Yamaha‘s legacy and heritage in abundance. Also, during more difficult periods, his positive mindset would be a boost to those around him, and he was always ready to go the extra mile for a good result. It‘s thanks to his never-failing passion for MotoGP that we can proudly look back on soon-to-be 16 fantastic seasons together.

“We all knew that eventually the moment would come that Valentino's illustrious Grand Prix racing career would come to an end. His unparalleled skills and warm charisma will definitely be greatly missed by the fans, the media, the MotoGP paddock, and the entire Yamaha staff.

"But before he finally hangs up his leathers, we have nine more opportunities to enjoy and savour his appearances at the remaining Grand Prix races of the 2021 season. In that respect it is very fitting that we will see the return of racing fans and spectators at many of the coming races.

“So let us all enjoy the next GPs and then we‘ll get the chance to say a proper thank you to Valentino at the end of the Valencia GP weekend in November.

Valentino Rossi & Yamaha: 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.
• 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 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).