Valentino Rossi will return to Yamaha next season, once again teaming with Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo at the Japanese company’s factory team.
Rossi will rejoin Yamaha after a troubled two-year stint with Ducati. Yamaha issued a statement announcing Rossi’s signing just minutes after Ducati confirmed the nine-time World Champion’s exit from its squad.
Yamaha Motor Racing managing director Lin Jarvis hailed the Lorenzo/Rossi pairing as a ‘super team’, despite previous tensions between the pair seeing the outfit run as two separate squads the last time they were team-mates.
“In June we were able to sign Jorge Lorenzo for the 2013-14 campaign and now we are able to confirm Valentino Rossi for the next two years,” said Jarvis.
“In doing so we have been able to put together the strongest possible team to challenge for victories and to promote the Yamaha brand.
“We have run this ‘super team’ together in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and during that time we achieved the ‘triple crown’ titles with Rider, Manufacturer and Team World Championship victories for three consecutive years.
“I have no doubt that with the experience, knowledge, skills and speed of these two great champion riders we will be able to challenge for many race wins and for the 2013 & 2014 World Championship titles.”
It is not yet clear whether Rossi’s engineering entourage, which has long included Australian crew chief Jeremy Burgess, will follow Rossi to Yamaha.
Rossi completed seven seasons for Yamaha between 2004 and 2010, winning 46 races on the way to the 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009 World Championship titles.
By contrast, Rossi is yet to score a single victory during his 27 races with Ducati and currently sits eighth in the 2012 points standings, 123 points behind championship leader Lorenzo.
