Yamaha want Valentino Rossi on lifetime deal

Yamaha is trying to secure Valentino Rossi on a lifetime contract to stop the newly crowned world champion from making a Ducati switch in 2011.

Rumours about a big money future move to Ducati and Rossi’s recent disillusionment at the renewal of Jorge Lorenzo’s Yamaha contract has led to intense speculation that he will quit Yamaha at the end of 2010.

Yamaha held lengthy talks with the 30-year-old during the Estoril race earlier this month about a lifetime tie-up, with Rossi taking on an ambassadorial role when he decides to retire.

Those talks have continued senior Yamaha boss Masao Furusawa.

And Yamaha race chief Lin Jarvis remains supremely confident that Rossi will be contracted to Yamaha beyond 2010, regardless of whether he is racing a YZR-M1 or not.

“Our target with Valentino is that he will finish his career with Yamaha and that has never changed and it never will. We would like him to continue with us for as long as he would like to ride.

“We would like him to retire with Yamaha, but whether that will be the case depends on him or us.

“We have a lot a respect for everything he has done for Yamaha and his riding performance at the moment, I believe is better than at any other time in his career,“ said Jarvis.