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Rossi will join Yamaha’s Petronas satellite team, leaving the factory to move on with Fabio Quartararo alongside Maverick Vinales in 2021.
FILE: Monster Energy Yamaha, Italian rider Valentino Rossi. Image: AFP
PORTIMAO – Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi says it will be a “special moment” when the curtain falls on his 15-year career in official Yamaha MotoGP at the final race of the season in Portugal on Sunday.
The Joan Mir World Championship may already be assured, but second place and the constructors’ title will also be at stake in Portimao.
Rossi, who has won seven of his world titles in the elite class, is among several riders being fired, with Andrea Dovizioso leaving for a planned sabbatical and Cal Crutchlow exiting the series to become a Yamaha test rider next year. .
Rossi will join Yamaha’s Petronas satellite team, leaving the factory to move on with Fabio Quartararo alongside Maverick Vinales in 2021.
“Sunday will be a special moment because it was a long journey together,” said Rossi, who spent two seasons with Yamaha, on Thursday.
“Our story is divided into two parts and I have to thank everyone at Yamaha for giving me another chance after two years with Ducati. As I was quite desperate, it was crucial for me to get back to the factory team.
“Also the second half was very long. We won a little less but anyway it was a great experience with many unforgettable moments. I’m sure I will miss the team a lot.
Pol Espargaró, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco and Danilo Petrucci are also among those who leave for new pastures.
Espargaró and Miller could also break an all-time record by finishing atop the podium and becoming the 10th winner of a different race in a season that had Mir on track to clinch the championship without a single race win. less than a month ago.
Mir managed to remove that label by winning the European Grand Prix, but the Spanish Suzuki rider would like nothing more than to put a final touch on his decisive performance last week, when seventh place in Valencia was enough to become the first new MotoGP champion since Marc Márquez in 2013.
“It’s something I’ve been fighting for my whole life, since I was 10 years old,” Mir said.
“I had this dream on my mind and I didn’t stop until I got this title.”
His compatriot Alex Rins is looking for second place, but with work to do, four points behind Franco Morbidelli of Petronas Yamaha SRT in the overall standings.
Morbidelli will also have a jump in his stride after the Italian finished first at last week’s Valencia Grand Prix, where he crossed the line 0.093 seconds ahead of Miller for his third win of the season.
Rins was not far behind in fourth place and his Suzuki team hopes to add a constructors’ championship to their driver and team titles.
Everything is to play with Ducati, since the two are tied on points. Yamaha is also in mathematical dispute, 13 points behind.
“We hope to complete the triple crown, that would be absolutely incredible,” Suzuki manager Davide Brivio said this week.
Crutchlow brings his full-time racing career to an end this weekend, which has included 168 premier class races, the first in 2011.
He achieved 19 podium finishes in total and three race wins.
Dovizioso will race one last time before taking a break in 2021, while Espargaró will head to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing next season.
Miller will switch to Ducati Team from Pramac, with Esponsorama Racing’s Zarco replacing him. Petrucci will trade Ducati for Red Bull KTM Tech 3.
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