Portuguese GP – Valentino Rossi’s worst motorcycle Grand Prix season ends in Portugal – Used YAMAHA

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Valentino Rossi’s worst motorcycle Grand Prix season ends in Portugal

Portuguese GP - Valentino Rossi's worst motorcycle Grand Prix season ends in Portugal - Used YAMAHA

The Portuguese Grand Prix marks the end of one of MotoGP’s richest collaborations with the last appearance of Valentino Rossi in the official Yamaha colors. The Doctor, 12th in Portimaõ, unfortunately leaves the Factory team through the back door in 15th place in the general classification … MNC declaration and assessment.

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory (17th in qualifying, 12th in race and 15th overall) : “The Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP team and I have had a long history together, we have shared a lot of unforgettable moments in my career and my life. So this GP was moving because we have been racing together for 15 years … Today hui, I felt good on the track so that’s a good way to end this story ".

  • GP of Portugal:
  • GP of Portugal:
  • MNC file :

"The weekend did not start well for us (penultimate of FP2, Editor’s note!) Because I needed a little too much time to adapt to the track (a recurring weak point, Editor’s note) . In the end, the results weren’t great, but in the race I was quite strong with a good pace. It’s the end of a complicated season for everyone. We have to work and train hard to be competitive. next year and try to be ready for the first race ".

“Our story with the official Yamaha team is split into two parts, like a good movie I think! The first part runs from 2004 to 2010: it was the best part of my career. We made history. , by winning the championship after 20 years of scarcity for Yamaha. I will always remember them because they are also key moments in my career (Rossi had won the title on his first attempt on the M1, yet picked it up since the passage in 4-stroke, before winning three other crowns in 2005, 2008 and 2009, Editor’s note) ".

Portuguese GP - Valentino Rossi's worst motorcycle Grand Prix season ends in Portugal - Used YAMAHA

"I’m also very proud of the second part (from 2013 to 2020, Editor’s note). I still want to say thank you to Lin (Jarvis, team director above, Editor’s note) and Yamaha. They gave me a chance to coming back to the factory team after two bad years with another brand (Ducati, editor’s note), when I was already "aging" by MotoGP standards and was quite desperate. I will never forget the moment Lin told me that I would have the chance to come back here, in the official box. I will always be grateful for that: I was liable to stop riding at this precise moment if Yamaha did not have me taken over in the factory team ". 

"My return to the Factory Yamaha team lasted 8 years, so a year longer than part one. Part two was a bit more difficult in terms of results, although we almost won another championship at one point. given (in 2015, Editor’s note), which could have changed our history. But things happened as they did (Rossi evokes here the sad episode of the Sepang-Clash with Marquez whom he accuses of having helped Lorenzo won the title, Editor’s note) ".

  • MotoGP grid : 

"But most of all I want to say ‘thank you’ to my team, because we’ve been together for a long time. Bernie, Alex, Brent, Matteo, Mark, David, Idalio and more. I also want to thank the other members of the team and the reception staff And of course, thank you to my mate Maverick: we had a good atmosphere in the box, so I would like to thank him too (and no thanks to his "mate" Lorenzo, ephemeral test pilot Yalmaha, NDLR?!) ".

“Next year I will still be riding a factory bike with full factory support, but with different colors. It is true that I will not be in the Yamaha Factory Racing garage, but I will be just in side with Matteo, Idalio and David ". 

MNC analysis : What memories for Valentino Rossi within the factory structure of Yamaha, and for good reason: the genius of the Alpages will have disputed a total of 15 seasons and 255 races with four titles and 142 podiums including 49 victories. ! Impressive, even if his "old friend" Marc Marquez already has six coronations and 57 successes since joining Honda-Repsol in 2013…

Portuguese GP - Valentino Rossi's worst motorcycle Grand Prix season ends in Portugal - Used YAMAHA

The Rossi-Yamaha association in MotoGP will remain in the annals if only for the intensity of its starting point in 2004: which enthusiast has never shuddered in front of this victorious start in Welkom (South Africa), when n ° 46 kneels on the edge of the track in front of his YZR-M1 after his first victory in blue? Rossi relaunched Yamaha in the firmament of motorcycle sport, by snubbing the HRC !

"In my room, there is the M1 of Welkom 2004", admits the sentimental – and superstitious! – transalpine star, aware of having written a piece of motorcycle sport history on Sunday, April 18, 2004. No other rider has since managed to re-edit this feat, namely to leave a dominant MotoGP to take another manufacturer back to victory in his first race.

The Italian – who broke his nose and his teeth thinking of doing the same at Ducati in 2011 and 2012 – will experience a less productive second half of his career at Yamaha, with ten victories from 2013 to 2020. Four were signed in 2015 – year when his 10th coronation is within reach of gloves -, while his last consecration dates back to the GP of the Netherlands 2017.

Performance in decline since 2017

Heavily injured in the leg during the summer of 2017 (tibia-fibula fracture), Rossi had managed to bounce back to third place in the world championship the following year. His performances have since tended to deteriorate: seventh in 2019 without victory or pole and only two podiums, the charismatic Italian tumbles to a stinging 15th place for his last season as an official driver..

Portuguese GP - Valentino Rossi's worst motorcycle Grand Prix season ends in Portugal - Used YAMAHA

Several reasons explain this sudden withdrawal, while the Doctor could reasonably consider finishing in the Top 5. 2020 first started off on the wrong foot because of an engine failure in Jerez (Spain), prelude to a little glorious soap opera around the reliability and non-compliant valves of the Yamaha 4-cylinder.

As a great champion, Rossi corrects the situation the following Sunday by climbing to the third step of the podium of the GP of Andalusia on the same circuit. Fourth in the Czech Republic, he did it again in Austria … but experienced an intense fear on this same circuit of the Red Bull Ring after having failed to be cut in two following the collision Morbidelli-Zarco.

From podium to gravel (x3) and Covid tests !

The No.46 rebounded with third place at the San Marino GP, his last podium to date. Perhaps overwhelmed by the prospect of a title offered by the absence of Marquez and the irregularity of Viñales and Dovizioso, Rossi then commits an implausible series of three consecutive errors in Misano 2, in Catalonia and in France. Decidedly fishy, ​​he tested positive for Covid-19 on his return from Le Mans (72) !

Portuguese GP - Valentino Rossi's worst motorcycle Grand Prix season ends in Portugal - Used YAMAHA

Sidelined during the next two races in Aragon (Spain), Valentino Rossi makes his return to the European GP in Valencia … where a mysterious electronic failure is at the origin of his seventh white result out of only 14 races this season ! The Italian has never recorded so many "zeros" since his debut in 1996.

Add to that two consecutive arrivals at 12th place in Valencia and then in Portugal, and you get the worst final ranking for Valentino Rossi in the Motorcycle Grand Prix: 15th with 66 points on the clock, between Alex Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia. Not really the best way to say "ciao" to your factory team…

"Vale" will try it all out next year at Yamaha SRT-Petronas, alongside his colt Franco Morbidelli. The nine-time world champion will then be 42 years old and the specter of the terrifying "season of too many" above his AGV helmet….

Portuguese GP 2020 results (MotoGP final race)

  1. Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 41’48.163
  2. Jack MILLER Ducati +3.193
  3. Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha +3.298
  4. Pol ESPARGARO KTM +12.626
  5. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda +13.318
  6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati +15.578
  7. Stefan BRADL Honda +15.738
  8. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia +16.034
  9. Alex MARQUEZ Honda +18.325
  10. Johann ZARCO Ducati +18.596
  11. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha +18.685
  12. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha +18.946
  13. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda +19.159
  14. Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha +24.376
  15. Alex RINS Suzuki +27.776
  16. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati +34.266
  17. Mika KALLIO KTM +48.410
  18. Tito RABAT Ducati +48.411

Not classified

  • Lorenzo SAVADORI Aprilia 3 Tours
  • Joan MIR Suzuki 10 Tours
  • Brad BINDER KTM 23 Laps
  • Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 0 Lap

MotoGP riders general classification 2020 

  1. Joan MIR Suzuki 171
  2. Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 158
  3. Alex RINS Suzuki 139
  4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 135
  5. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 135
  6. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 132
  7. Jack MILLER Ducati 132
  8. Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 127
  9. Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 125
  10. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 116
  11. Brad BINDER KTM 87
  12. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 78
  13. Johann ZARCO Ducati 77
  14. Alex MARQUEZ Honda 74
  15. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 66
  16. Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 47
  17. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 42
  18. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 32
  19. Stefan BRADL Honda 27
  20. Iker LECUONA KTM 27
  21. Bradley SMITH Aprilia 12
  22. Tito RABAT Ducati 10
  23. Michele PIRRO Ducati 4

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