Sepang MotoGP: Valentino Rossi stats and facts

Valentino Rossi’s ninth world championship success in Sepang cemented his place in the history of racing.

The record-breaking Italian clinched his seventh MotoGP world title with third place in a rain-lashed Malaysian GP. 

Here’s some stats and facts on the 30-year-old’s incredible and illustrious career:

• Rossi has now matched Mike Hailwood and Carlo Ubbiali with nine titles in all classes. Only Agostini with 15 has more.
• Rossi’s win in Assen this season made him only the second rider in history to take 100 wins in all classes. Rossi now has 103, 19 less than Agostini’s all-time record of 122.
• He already held the all-time premier class victories record, having beaten Agostini’s tally at Indianapolis in 2008. He now a premier-class win tally of 77.
• Rossi’s win this season in Brno saw him take the all-time podium record with his 160th podium in all classes. He is also the only rider to have stood on the podium in the premier-class more than 100 times. Today’s podium was his 163rd in all classes.
• With 44 wins from 102 races since he joined the Japanese factory in 2004, Rossi is the most successful Yamaha rider of all time. He has 21 more wins than Kenny Roberts, Yamaha’s next most successful rider.
• Today’s title means he has now won more titles for Yamaha than for any of the other manufacturers he has ridden for in his career.
• His win at Misano, Italy this year was his 11th win in all classes on home soil.
• He is the only rider in history to have won at least one GP in 14 successive seasons.

Other facts about Rossi’s career:

• In 1997 Rossi became the second youngest ever 125cc World Champion after scoring 321 points and eleven wins.
• Two years later, he became the youngest ever 250cc World Champion with nine wins.
• In 2001 Rossi joined Phil Read as one of only two riders ever to win the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc titles.
• Rossi’s debut victory for Yamaha at the opening race of 2004 in South Africa made him the first rider in history to take back-to-back wins for different manufacturers.
• After winning the MotoGP World Championship three times with Honda, Rossi took his fourth premier-class title with Yamaha in 2004 and became the only rider other than Eddie Lawson to win consecutive premier-class titles for different manufacturers.
• Rossi remains the only rider to win the premier-class title on four different types of motorcycle: 500cc 4-cylinder two-stroke, 990 cc 5-cylinder four-stroke, Yamaha 990cc 4-cylinder four-stroke and a Yamaha 800cc 4-cylinder four-stroke.
• Rossi has never missed a GP since his 125cc debut in 1996. He has started 226 successive races in all classes, 166 of which have been in the premier class. Both of these are records.