On the eve of his home Italian grand prix, Valentino Rossi and Yamaha have officially confirmed that the seven-times world champion will remain with Yamaha's Factory Team for the 2007 MotoGP World Championship.
After winning his third consecutive premier-class world title with Honda in 2003, Rossi sensationally left HRC to pursue a new challenge at 'underdogs' Yamaha - then shocked the motorsport world further by promptly winning the 2004 title on his first attempt with the YZR-M1.
The Italian defended his crown with relative ease last season - when Yamaha took a clean-sweep of the Riders', Team and Manufacturers' Championships in the year of it's 50th Anniversary - but the start of 2006 has proved much more difficult; Rossi having taken just one win from the first five rounds after suffering a combination of severe handling problems and plain bad luck.
That has left 'The Doctor' just eighth in the points standings - marking his worst ever start to a world championship season - but Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn believes that the tough start to 2006, plus new opposition from the likes of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, has provided the challenge Rossi was searching for - and was the main reason he recently turned down the chance of a Formula One drive.
"I'm very pleased to be staying with Yamaha next year," said Rossi of his new deal, which it is assumed is only for one year. "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."
2007 will thus mark Rossi's fourth season at Yamaha and - as the #46 suggested - bring the additional challenge of developing and then racing the factory's brand new 800cc racer.
"We are firstly delighted that Valentino has chosen to stay in MotoGP," declared Yamaha Motor Racing managing director Lin Jarvis, speaking from Mugello today. "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," he concluded.
Thursday's announcement comes eight days after Rossi turned down an F1 move and, like that confirmation, has almost certainly been timed to end speculation about The Doctor's future ahead of his home event.
