Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi may have not won a World Championship since 2009, but to many he will always be the #1 superstar of the MotoGP World Championship.

The 39-year-old this week signed on with Yamaha through to 2020, thus we thought it pertinent to recap some highlights from Rossi’s career, thus far…

Rossi has already equalled Mike Hailwood and Carlo Ubbiali, who both wrote nine titles to their names in all classes, only Giacomo Agostini and Angel Nieto have more.

With 56 wins from 206 races Rossi remains the most successful Yamaha racer of all time.

Moreover, Rossi is the only rider to win premier class titles on five different types of motorcycles (500cc 4-cylinder two-stroke, 990cc 5-cylinder four-stroke, Yamaha 990cc 4-cylinder four-stroke, Yamaha 800cc 4-cylinder four-stroke and a Yamaha 1000cc 4-cylinder four-stroke).

Records & Highlights

Rossi is the most successful Yamaha rider in history (56 wins, 43 second places, 35 third places on a Yamaha, scored in 206 races).

He is the rider that’s been active the longest in Grand Prix Racing (he made his debut in 1996, this will be his 23rd season, and he has made 365 Grand Prix starts in total, of which 273 were in the MotoGP class).

He competed the most seasons on a Yamaha in the MotoGP class (this will be his 13th season).

Rossi is the only rider to win the MotoGP World Championship four times in a row (2002 – 2005).

He secured the most podiums for Yamaha in the MotoGP class (so far he has stood on the rostrum with Yamaha 134 times).

He holds the most first places for Yamaha in the MotoGP class (56 wins).

He is the only rider to complete 230 races back-to-back, without missing one (from his debut in 1996 in Malaysia until the race in Mugello in 2010).

He holds the record for most races started overall and in the premier class. (He has started 365 GP races across all classes; 305 of which have been in the premier class and 206 of those races were ridden on a Yamaha.)

He was the first rider to take back-to-back premier-class victories with different manufacturers (after his win at the 2004 season-opening GP in South Africa).

He scored five successive premier-class victories on a Yamaha (2008: USA, CZE, RSM, INP, JPN).

He achieved the highest number of premier-class victories in a single season by a Yamaha rider (11 wins in 2005).

He finished on the podium at all 16 races in 2003, achieving a perfect 100% podium rate.

He repeated the 16 podiums score (which has been equaled but never surpassed) from 2003 in the 2005 and 2008 season, making him the only rider to score that many podiums in more than two seasons.

He stood on the podium in the premier-class on 191 occasions.

He has been on the podium 227 times across all classes, more than any other rider.

He won at least one GP in every year of his 12 seasons with Yamaha so far.

He is the only Grand Prix rider that also excels in rally racing. (He is a six-time winner of the Monza Rally Show.)

He is the only rider to win premier class titles on five different types of motorcycle (500cc 4-cylinder two-stroke, 990cc 5-cylinder four-stroke, Yamaha 990cc 4-cylinder four-stroke, Yamaha 800cc 4-cylinder four-stroke and a Yamaha 1000cc 4-cylinder four-stroke).

Out of Yamaha‘s 500 Grand Prix victories, achieved in Le Mans 2017, 11% of those were secured by him, making him the biggest contributing rider (55 victories of the 500 GP wins secured by Yamaha).

He is the most successful premier-class rider in Assen (8 victories) and Brno (5 first places). He also holds records for most wins over all classes in Mugello, Catalunya, Estoril, Phillip Island, Welkom, Jerez, Sepang, Donington Park, and Rio.

He is the only active Grand Prix racer who is also a lower-classes team owner at the same time.

He secured 5,875 points in total, if you combine his results over all the classes he competed in (125cc, 250cc, 500cc, MotoGP).

He will start his 23rd racing season this weekend… and there are many more impressive statistics to come in the next two years.