Valentino Rossi

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Valentino Rossi
Rossi at the 2017 Aragon Grand Prix
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1979-02-16) 16 February 1979 (age 45) Urbino, Italy
Bike number	46 (retired in honour in the MotoGP class)
Website	valentinorossi.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2000–2021 Manufacturers Honda (2000–2003) Yamaha (2004–2010, 2013–2021) Ducati (2011–2012) Championships 7 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009) 2021 championship position 18th (44 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 372 89 199 55 76 5415 250cc World Championship Active years 1998–1999 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 1 (1999) 1999 championship position 1st (309 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 30 14 21 5 11 510 125cc World Championship Active years 1996–1997 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 1 (1997) 1997 championship position 1st (321 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 30 12 15 5 9 432
Signature
GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup career
Debut season	2022
Current team	Team WRT
Racing licence	FIA Silver
Car number	46
Starts	24
Wins	2
Podiums	5
Poles	2
Fastest laps	0
Finished last season	5th in 2023
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup career
Debut season	2022
Current team	Team WRT
Car number	46
Starts	11
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Finished last season	15th in 2023
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2024
Current team	Team WRT
Years active	2024–present
Car number	46
Starts	3
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	2nd in 2024
Previous series
1998–2018 2002, 2006, 2008 2012 2019–2023 2023 2023 2023	Monza Rally Show World Rally Championship Blancpain Endurance Series Gulf 12 Hours 24H Series Intercontinental GT Challenge Le Mans Cup – GT3
Championship titles
2006–2007, 2012, 2015–2018	Monza Rally Show

This article is part of a series about Valentino Rossi
Italian motorcycle road racer Career Grand Prix wins Family Graziano Rossi (father) Luca Marini (half-brother) Eponyms Valentino Rossi: The Game VR46 Racing Academy VR46 Racing Team
v t e

Valentino Rossi (/ˈrɒsi/; Italian: [valenˈtiːno ˈrossi]; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed The Doctor, he is widely considered to be the greatest-ever motorcycle racer.^[1][2][3] Of Rossi's nine Grand Prix World Championships, seven were in the premier 500cc/MotoGP class. He holds the record for most premier class victories, with 89 to his name. He won premier class World Championships with both Honda and Yamaha. He is also the only road racer to have competed in 400 or more Grands Prix.^[4] He rode with the number 46 for his entire career.

After graduating to the premier class in 2000, Rossi won the final 500cc World Championship (becoming the last satellite rider to win the top-class title to date) and the 8 Hours of Suzuka with Honda in 2001. He also won MotoGP World Championships with the factory Repsol Honda team in 2002 and 2003 and continued his run of back-to-back championships by winning the 2004 and 2005 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha. He lost the 2006 title with a crash in the final round at Valencia. In 2007, he ultimately finished third overall, before regaining the title in 2008 and retaining it in 2009.^[5] After a 2010 season marred by a broken leg and no title defence, he left Yamaha to join the Ducati factory team, replacing Casey Stoner for the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and endured two winless seasons with the Italian marque.^[6][7]

Rossi returned to Yamaha in 2013 and finished fourth in the standings followed by three successive runner-up positions in 2014, 2015 and 2016. His best chance of winning a tenth title came in 2015, where he led the standings for most of the season, finishing five points behind team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, the eventual champion. 2017 was the final season in which he achieved over 200 championship points, and he won his final race victory in the 2017 Dutch TT at the age of 38. After three winless seasons with the Yamaha factory team, he moved to Petronas SRT for 2021, retiring after only one season with the satellite Yamaha team and failing to achieve a podium for the first time in a career spanning 26 seasons in Grands Prix. The dominant force in MotoGP in the 2000s, all of Rossi's seven premier class titles came in this decade, including 77 race wins and 48 pole positions. In the ensuing 12 seasons, he managed 12 race wins and seven pole positions. During this period, Rossi was the 6th most successful rider in terms of total race victories.^[8]

Rossi was inducted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame as an official Legend by the FIM at the awards ceremony after the conclusion of the 2021 season.^[9] His #46 bike number was retired at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.^[10] Rossi owns and manages the Racing Team VR46, which competes in MotoGP as of 2024.^[11] In addition to his team management role, Rossi competes full-time in the FIA World Endurance Championship, driving for Team WRT,^[12] in a BMW M4 GT3, which also bears the now iconic number 46.

Career[edit]

Early career[edit]

Rossi was born in Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy.^[13] While he was a child, his family moved to Tavullia. The son of former motorcycle racer Graziano Rossi, he began riding at a very young age.^[14] Rossi's first racing love, however, was karting. Fuelled by his mother, Stefania's, concern for her son's safety, Graziano purchased a kart as a substitute for the bike. However, the Rossi family trait of perpetually wanting to go faster prompted a redesign; Graziano replaced the 60 cc motor with a 100 cc national kart motor for his then 5-year-old son.^[15]

Rossi won the regional kart championship in 1990.^[16] After this, he took up minimoto and, before the end of 1991, had won numerous regional races.^[14]

Rossi continued to race karts and finished fifth at the national kart championships in Parma. Both he and his father considered moving into the Italian 100cc series, as well as the corresponding European series, which would most likely have pushed him in the direction of Formula One. However, the high cost of racing karts led to the decision to race minimoto exclusively.^{[citation needed]} Through 1992 and 1993, Valentino continued to learn the ins and outs of minimoto racing.

Junior career[edit]

In 1993, Rossi was given his first opportunity to ride a 125cc motorcycle by former world champion Paolo Pileri, who became a team manager after retiring from competition.^[17] Later in 1993, with help from his father, Virginio Ferrari, Claudio Castiglioni and Cagiva factory racing team manager Claudio Lusuardi, Rossi competed in the 125 cc Italian Sport Production Championship on a Cagiva Mito alongside teammate Vittoriano Guareschi.^[18] At his first race meeting with the Cagiva team, he damaged his motorcycle in a first-corner crash no more than a hundred metres from the pit lane.^[19] He finished ninth in that race weekend.^[19]

Although his first season in the Italian Sport Production Championship was varied, he achieved a pole position in the season's final race at Misano, where he would ultimately finish on the podium. By the second year, Rossi had been provided with a factory Mito by Lusuardi and won the Italian title.

In 1994, Rossi raced in the Italian 125 CC Championship with a prototype called Sandroni, using a Rotax engine. The bike was built by Guido Mancini, a former rider and mechanic who had worked, in the past, with Loris Capirossi. A documentary about Mancini, called "Mancini, the Motorcycle Wizard" (Il Mago Mancini), was released in 2016 by director Jeffrey Zani and explains the birth of the motorcycle and the relationship between Rossi and the mechanic. In 1995, Rossi switched to Aprilia and won the Italian 125 CC Championship. He was third in the European Championship.

125cc World Championship[edit]

The 1996 championship season marked the debut of Rossi, then 17, in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. He had some success in his first year, scoring consistent points and sometimes finishing just off the podium in his races from Malaysia to Italy, but he retired in both the French and Dutch rounds. He scored more points by finishing fifth in CategoriesCars/Transportation