Valentino Rossi at Mugello: 1996-2008.

Last year at Mugello, Valentino Rossi became the first rider in motorcycle grand prix history to win his home event for seven years in a row; can he make it eight in 2009?

Below is a brief summary of Rossi's 13 grand prix appearances, in all three classes, at Mugello:

1996/125cc/Aprilia: Qualified 8th/Finished 4th: Rossi's first grand prix appearance at Mugello was his 5th GP start. After leading a grand prix for the first time he finished 4th, just 1.6 seconds behind race victor Peter Ottl.

1997/125cc/Aprilia: Qualified 3rd/Finished 1st: Rossi's first victory at Mugello, on the way to winning his first world title.

1998/250cc/Aprilia: Qualified 4th/Finished 2nd: Rossi was leading after seven laps when the race was stopped due to rain. He finished 3rd in the re-start to clinch 2nd place on combined time, behind veteran Marcellino Lucchi, who took his only GP victory.

1999/250cc/Aprilia: Qualified 6th/Finished 1st: Rossi became the first rider to win in both the 125cc and 250cc classes at Mugello.

2000/500cc/Honda: Qualified 3rd/Finished 12th: Crashed on the 21st lap while fighting with Biaggi and Capirossi to become the first Italian to win a 500cc race at Mugello. Capirossi took victory while Rossi eventually finished 12th after re-mounting.

2001/500cc/Honda: Qualified pole/DNF: Started from pole for the first time at Mugello but did not finish after crashing out on the penultimate lap of a two-part wet race. This is the last occasion Rossi left Mugello without a race victory.

2002/MotoGP/Honda: Qualified pole/Finished 1st: Rossi became the first rider to win in all three classes at Mugello.

2003/MotoGP/Honda: Qualified pole/Finished 1st: Rossi won from great rivals Capirossi and Biaggi in the first all-Italian podium in the premier-class at Mugello.

2004/MotoGP/Yamaha: Qualified 3rd/Finished 1st: With the first race stopped after 17 laps due to rain, Rossi won the re-start - which lasted just six laps, the shortest premier-class race of all-time.

2005/MotoGP/Yamaha: Qualified pole/Finished 1st: Rossi won from fellow Italians Biaggi, Capirossi and Melandri. It was the first time in the premier-class since 1968 that Italian riders had taken the top four places.

2006/MotoGP/Yamaha: Qualified 3rd/Finished 1st: In what is considered to be one of the best races of the MotoGP era, Rossi won from Capirossi and Hayden with less than three quarters of a second covering the three podium finishers.

2007/MotoGP/Yamaha: Qualified 3rd/Finished 1st: Rossi won for the sixth successive year to equal the record of Mick Doohan, who won the 500cc race at Mugello from 1993 to 1998.

2008/MotoGP/Yamaha: Qualified pole/Finished 1st: Rossi won for the seventh successive year at Mugello, marking the first time in grand prix history that a rider has won his home GP in seven successive years.