Rossi in two-year Yamaha challenge
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World champion Rossi now aims to hit the heights with Yamaha
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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- World champion Valentino Rossi has agreed a two-year deal with Yamaha and will ride for them in MotoGP next year, the Japanese manufacturer has confirmed.
The 24-year-old Italian announced after winning the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix last week that he would not be staying with Honda, with whom he won three straight world titles. He will start testing with Yamaha when his current deal expires on December 31.
"We are all extremely happy that Valentino will be joining Yamaha in 2004," said Lin Jarvis, managing director of Yamaha Motor Racing, on Monday.
Rossi won nine of 16 races this year in MotoGP, the premier class of grand prix motorcycling that replaced the 500cc category from the 2002 season.
The five-times world champion, he won the 125cc and 250cc titles before moving up to the top class in 2000, said he wanted to make the move from Honda because he no longer found winning on their dominant RCV bike a challenge.
"In our discussions with him it is clear that he relishes the challenge achieving our goal in MotoGP as much as we do," Jarvis added. "He is an incredible talent and will make a huge difference.
"This is a very important step in our plan to re-establish Yamaha as a leading force in grand prix racing."
American Wayne Rainey was Yamaha's last world champion in the top class of motorcycling when he won the third of his 500cc titles in 1992.
Rossi's team-mate will be Spain's Carlos Checa, who was seventh in the championship last season with a best finish of fourth.
Checa's current companion, Italy's 2002 250cc champion Marco Melandri, will move to the Tech 3 Yamaha team.
