Rossi at Yamaha in 2007

Yamaha has confirmed that Valentino Rossi will stay with the factory for a fourth consecutive year in 2007 as MotoGP switches to an 800cc limit.

The deal has been expected since Rossi announced he would not be switching to Formula 1 (click here). Rossi won the world championship in his first year on a Yamaha in 2004, following a switch from Honda, and again took the title in 2005. So far his 2006 season has started badly with just one win in the last season before a new 800cc capacity limit.

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“I’m very pleased to be staying with Yamaha next year,” said Rossi. “These past two years have been two of the best of my career and I am extremely happy to stay with them and with my team. I believe I have made the right choice and I am very excited about the challenge of a new class of racing with Yamaha next year.”

Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis also spoke about the decision

“Of course it’s of key importance to us that Valentino will now be in a position to lead the development of Yamaha’s new 800cc project for 2007. His input will be invaluable and we believe we will be able to challenge to wint he title next year with the new bike. In the meantime our short term goal is to provide him with the means to defend his MotoGp title this year. We are confident that Valentino can recover form an unlucky start to his title defence, starting at our Factory team’s home race in Mugello this weekend.”