MotoGP: Yamaha and Rossi sign for 2006

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August 2, 2005 Yamaha Motor and Valentino Rossi signed a contract extension yesterday, ensuring that Valentino will stay with Yamaha for the 2006 MotoGP World Championship. Rossi won the 2004 MotoGP World Championship with Yamaha and is currently competing in his second season with the Japanese manufacturer's factory team. The Italian leads the 2005 MotoGP World Championship by 120 points, following his 8th victory of the season at last weekend's German Grand Prix. Significantly, it was Rossi’s 76th Grand prix victory and moved the 26-year old into equal third place in the all-time victory list alongside the late Mike Hailwood. Rossi rode his victory lap with a flag that read, “Rossi 76, Hailwood 76, I'm sorry Mike,” in deference to Hailwood. Only the greats Angel Nieto (90) and Giacomo Agostini (122) remain for “The Doctor” to conquer should he be able to remain focused for that long given the constant enticements to move to four wheeled motorsport. That said, Rossi’s 76th win last weekend had all the hallmarks of Rossi magic.

"I am so happy to be able to announce the continuation of my relationship with Yamaha" commented Rossi. "Last year was magic, to win my first race with Yamaha, and then to win the championship. I have a fantastic relationship with this factory and my team crew, who have worked so hard to make the M1 as competitive as it is now, and it just made sense to stay with Yamaha for another year."

Just one week after his stunning wet weather win at Donington Park in England, reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi was back on top of the podium at the Sachsenring circuit as he snatched victory from Sete Gibernau (Honda) on the final lap of the German Grand Prix. The tenth round of the 2005 campaign and Rossi’s 150th Grand Prix appearance in all was stopped after five laps when John Hopkins (Suzuki) crashed out in spectacular fashion, lying unconscious on the circuit. By that time Rossi had made his way up to second place and when the race restarted he quickly began to pile the pressure on early race leader Nicky Hayden, taking the lead on the second lap.

One lap later Gibernau passed both Hayden and Rossi, who was then relegated back to third place by the American on lap 13. The Italian mounted a typical late charge, passing Hayden and closing in on Gibernau during the closing stages of the race as he prepared an attack on the final lap. It proved unnecessary however, as a mistake from Gibernau in turn one handed the Italian his 76th Grand Prix victory, moving him third in the all-time Grand Prix winners list, level with Mike Hailwood. Whilst Rossi now leads the championship standings by 120 points over Marco Melandri (Honda), his Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards finished a difficult weekend with eighth position in the race today, and drops to fourth overall behind Gibernau. The Texan nonetheless remains in close contention at the top end of the championship table, where four riders are separated by just four points.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 1st: “It’s been a difficult weekend for sure. On Friday we arrived with a bad setting for this track and had some big problems. The team and Yamaha have done a fantastic job to recover from a bad situation and have worked step-by-step to resolve the issues. It was a hard race throughout, in some places we were fast and some slower, but the bike was working well after all the work we put in yesterday. At one point I lost second place to Nicky, but luckily I was able to take it back and then I prepared for a last lap battle with Sete. Then Sete made a small mistake at the first braking marker, which is an easy thing to do when you are racing at this speed, and I was able to take the lead. I don’t know if I would have won if he hadn’t made the mistake, but for sure I would have tried! I made a special flag to apologise to Mike Hailwood for matching his 76 wins in Grand Prix, because when another rider arrives at your level, it’s always disappointing! Mike is one of the greatest riders ever, and now I am beside him on the all-time winners podium in Grand Prix, which is a fantastic achievement!”

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Yamaha Team Director: “We won a race at the end of what has been a difficult weekend, so this is another great achievement. Now we go on holiday with an even stronger lead – after ten races we are leading all the categories: the rider, team and manufacturers’ championships. Also Colin remains close to the top of the championship. He is in good shape at the top of the table with all the best riders, despite not having such a good race today. Now everyone will take a well-deserved rest after the first half of the season, and let’s hope we can return in Brno and continue in the same way for the second half of the year.”

Sete Gibernau, Movistar Honda MotoGP: 2nd: “I’m really happy to have been fighting to win again – this should be our natural habitat and I promise it will continue to be so after the holidays. It has been a good weekend and it almost ended with a perfect race, it was just a shame that I made a mistake on the final lap. I got distracted and lost a precious tenth of a second that cost me victory. The important thing is that we are on our way back and this weekend I had fun on the bike once again. I can guarantee that I will win races this season.”

Nicky Hayden,Repsol Honda Team, 3rd: “I really thought I might have something for them at the end of the race but it wasn’t to be. In the last few laps I closed right up on them. I’m not happy about third but I’m happy about what I learned today. I was riding with two of the top guys in the world and I went to school on them for 30 laps. I feel like I learned a lot from them. I told my boys last night that we could be looking at 25 points but it wasn’t to be. They did a great job and got the bike set-up real well. Once you get that taste for winning you just want more. After so long being off the top of the box, Laguna felt so, so good. I just want that feeling back again real bad and soon.”

Max Biaggi,Repsol Honda Team: 4th: “Well, not so good again I’m afraid. I had to start from the third row as the first race was not so good and I was lying in eighth place when the race was stopped. In the end I made it past Barros and we get fourth place but I am not satisfied, how can I be? We are still fighting with the same problems all season. The front is still jumping and has chatter. It really makes me mad as I know I still have the ability and the motivation to win. At the moment we can only finish on the back and I am very frustrated. I never give up. I will train hard over the next few weeks and will come back after the break at Brno full of spirit for the race and for the rest of the season.”

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