Valentino Rossi ‘proud’ to clinch new Yamaha contract

Valentino Rossi says he is ‘proud’ to have clinched a new two-year contract to stay with Yamaha’s factory MotoGP squad until the end of 2016.

Five podium finishes in the first eight races have proved that Rossi is still fast enough and competitive enough to threaten Spanish trio Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

Rossi has always maintained that he wanted to continue his illustrious career until the end of 2016 at least.

But he also said during the pre-season that his decision on whether to race on would be made based on his performances in the opening half of the current campaign.

The 35-year-old has finished second in four races and been third once and is currently sharing second place in the overall rankings on 128-points with Repsol Honda rival Dani Pedrosa.

His contract extension was confirmed today (Wednesday) and in a Yamaha statement he said: “I am very happy to announce that I have signed a new contract with Yamaha to continue together in MotoGP for the next two years. I am very proud of this announcement. It’s very important to me because I really enjoy working with my crew and all the guys from the team, both the Japanese and European members that have been with me almost my entire career. It’s great because this was my target; I wanted to continue, I am feeling good and I’m motivated to keep giving my best. I am very happy that I can keep riding my YZR-M1, that has been my love for so many years and will still be my love this year and the following two seasons. A big ‘Thank You’ to everybody, I will try to keep giving the maximum to arrive in front and make good races. Enjoy!”