Now it's official.
Valentino Rossi, who had already announced his divorce with the factory Yamaha at the end of this season, will race in the Yamaha team in 2021
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This was announced during the weekend of the Catalunya GP in Montmelò by the same team.
The rider from Pesaro will join the other Italian driver Franco Morbidelli.
"I thought a lot before making this decision - commented the rider from Pesaro - because the challenge is getting tougher. To be at the top in MotoGP you have to work hard and hard, train every day and lead a" life as an athlete ", but I still like it and I still want to drive ".
In Rossi's contract with Petronas there is no clause that provides for a further extension in 2022, but only a sort of gentleman's agreement that reads: "If we are both happy before the summer, we will continue together. Valentino brings with him the crew chief David Munoz, the telemetry operator Matteo Flamigni and the coach Idalio Gavira. "In the first half of the year I made my choice - explains Rossi - and I spoke to Yamaha, who agreed with me.
They told me that even if there was no room for me in the Factory Team, the factory bike and official support were guaranteed.
I am very happy to switch to the PETRONAS Yamaha SRT.
They are young, but have proven to be a top team.
They are very serious and very well organized.
For this year I also changed my crew chief.
I am very happy with David, and I think we have not reached the maximum yet, this was one of the reasons why I chose to continue, because the atmosphere in the team is something I really like. "
Then Rossi also talks about his next teammate Franco Morbidelli great protagonist at Misano: "It will be nice to have Franco as my teammate, since he's an Academy rider, it will be nice. I think we can work together to make good things happen. ".