The worst kept secret of the 2010 MotoGP season is finally official – Valentino Rossi has made a switch from Yamaha to Ducati for the 2011 season! Yes, every Italian’s wet dream has finally come true. As was reported earlier, Rossi made his final announcement today, a few hours after the grand prix of Brno. The Italian rider and the Italian team have signed a two year contract, meaning your favorite motorcycle racer will continue to entertain and thrill you for two more season at least.
“We are delighted to announce that Valentino Rossi will be with us from 2011,” commented Gabriele Del Torchio, president of Ducati Motor Holding. “He is a paragon of excellence in the world of motorcycling, coherent with our Italian company which is a standard bearer for ‘made in Italy’ excellence. These are key values for success in technology, design and sportsmanship. In addition to the strong and passionate intent of both parties, this agreement has been made possible by the committed support of our shareholder Investindustrial and all the sponsors associated with the Ducati Team, sponsors which have believed in this opportunity and share and support our choices.”
Filippo Preziosi, Ducati Corse General Director, said, “Firstly, Valentino is a great fan of motorcycles and so it has always been a pleasure for me to listen to his opinions. Until the Valencia GP he will remain a competitor, one so great that he has always given a special value to our victories, but as soon as he rides the Ducati for the first time we will work together on every single detail that will develop a bike capable of showing his huge talent. Working with Valentino is one of the most exciting things for every engineer, and it’s good to know we will have this great opportunity next season.”
It is more than a festive environment for Ducati and alomost every Italian motorcycle/racing fan, however, Rossi, Yamaha or Ducati haven’t said a word about the future of Rossi’s crew. If Rossi’s Honda to Yamaha switch in 2003 is anything to go by, then Jerry Burgees and the entire crew would follow Rossi to Ducati, since the latter has confirmed that Casey Stoner’s crew won’t be of any service once the Australian packs his bags for Repsol Honda next season. The same team that developed the YZR-M1 in the last seven years with Rossi at the helm might well be the team that will make the GP11 the best machine on the grid when Rossi begins testing for Ducati as early as the final round at Valencia this year.
A highly emotional Rossi wrote the letter shown above, which translates as, “It is very difficult to explain in just a few words what my relationship with Yamaha has been in these past seven years. Many things have changed since that far-off time in 2004, but especially ‘she’, my M1, has changed.
At that time (2003) she was a poor middle-grid position MotoGP bike, derided by most of the riders and the MotoGP workers. Now, after having helped her to grow and improve, you can see her smiling in her garage, courted and admired, treated as the ‘top of the class’. The list of the people that made this transformation possible is very long, but I would like to thank anyway Masao Furusawa, Masahiko Nakajima and ‘my’ Hiroya Atsumi, as representatives of all the engineers that worked hard to change the face of our M1.
Then Jeremy Burgess and all my guys in the garage, who took care of her with love on all the tracks of the world and also all the men and women that have worked in the Yamaha team during these years. Now the moment has come to look for new challenges; my work here at Yamaha is finished.
Unfortunately even the most beautiful love stories finish, but they leave a lot of wonderful memories, like when my M1 and I kissed for the first time on the grass at Welkom, when she looked straight in my eyes and told me ‘I love you!'”
Head over to the next page to read the official announcement from Yamaha>>>