Valentino Rossi (; Italian: [valenˈtiːno ˈrossi]; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian professional motorcycle road racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion.
Rossi is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name – seven of which are in the premier class. Rossi owns the Sky Racing Team by VR46, which campaigns in the Moto3 and Moto2 categories of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Following his father Graziano Rossi, he started racing in Grand Prix in 1996 for Aprilia in the 125cc category and won his first World Championship the following year. From there, Rossi moved up to the 250cc category with Aprilia and won the 250cc World Championship in 1999.
After graduating to the premier class in 2000, Rossi won the 500cc World Championship with Honda in 2001, the MotoGP World Championships (also with Honda) in 2002 and 2003 and continued his streak of back-to-back championships by winning the 2004 and 2005 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha, before regaining the title in 2008 and retaining it in 2009. Rossi left Yamaha to join Ducati for the 2011 season, but it was confirmed in 2012 that he would rejoin Yamaha for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Rossi suffered two winless seasons while at Ducati.
Rossi came close to winning the 2015 title after several years out of contention, leading the championship for most of the season only to lose out in the final round to his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo. The end of that season was marred with controversy following Rossi having a coming together on track with Marc Márquez, resulting... Read more on wikipedia
Rossi is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name – seven of which are in the premier class. Rossi owns the Sky Racing Team by VR46, which campaigns in the Moto3 and Moto2 categories of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Following his father Graziano Rossi, he started racing in Grand Prix in 1996 for Aprilia in the 125cc category and won his first World Championship the following year. From there, Rossi moved up to the 250cc category with Aprilia and won the 250cc World Championship in 1999.
After graduating to the premier class in 2000, Rossi won the 500cc World Championship with Honda in 2001, the MotoGP World Championships (also with Honda) in 2002 and 2003 and continued his streak of back-to-back championships by winning the 2004 and 2005 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha, before regaining the title in 2008 and retaining it in 2009. Rossi left Yamaha to join Ducati for the 2011 season, but it was confirmed in 2012 that he would rejoin Yamaha for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Rossi suffered two winless seasons while at Ducati.
Rossi came close to winning the 2015 title after several years out of contention, leading the championship for most of the season only to lose out in the final round to his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo. The end of that season was marred with controversy following Rossi having a coming together on track with Marc Márquez, resulting... Read more on wikipedia
