Valentino Rossi

Nicknames	Rossifumi, Valentinik, The Doctor
Nationality	Italian
Date of birth	February 16, 1979 (1979-02-16) (age 29)
Place of birth	Urbino, Italy
Website	fanclubvalentinorossi.com
MotoGP Record
Current team	Fiat Yamaha Team
Bike number	46
World Championships	125cc - 1997 250cc - 1999 500cc - 2001 MotoGP - 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Race starts	192
Race Wins	88
Podium finishes	135
Pole positions	49
Fastest laps	72
Championship Points	3347
2007 Championship position	3rd (241 pts)

Valentino Rossi (born February 16, 1979 in Urbino) is an Italian professional motorcycle racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion. He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with 7 Grand Prix World Championships to his name. In 2006, he narrowly missed an 8th title by scoring a second place in the Championship, and with three races to go in the 2007 season, he lost out again, this time to Australian Casey Stoner. According to Sports Illustrated, Rossi is the 7th highest earning sports personality in the world (2nd outside the United States), earning an estimated $30 million a year.

MotoGP

Rossi riding his Honda RC211V MotoGP bike.

2001 was the final year of the 500 cc World Championship; the 500 cc giving way to the newly created MotoGP class. 2002 was the inaugural year for the MotoGP bikes and with all riders experiencing the same teething problems getting used to the new bikes (or dealing with the inferior 500 cc bikes), Rossi won the first race went on to win 8 of the first 9 races of the season, eventually claiming 11 victories in total.

From Honda to Yamaha

There was much speculation during the second half of the 2003 season about Rossi's plans for the future. Most suspected that he would succeed in his bid to claim a third consecutive title and wondered where the amazingly talented Italian would go in the future. There were even rumors that he would attempt a career in rally cars after he had competed in a Peugeot 206 WRC rally car at the 2002 Rally of Great Britain (although he drove the car into a ditch). His contract with Honda was up at the end of the year and there were rumors that Rossi had become somewhat disillusioned with his ride at Honda. His tenure at Honda had effectively run its course; he had provided Honda with a 500 cc World Championship as well as consecutive MotoGP World Championships, he had helped perfect the RC211V into a formidable, almost unstoppable racing machine and considering Honda's reluctance to pay top dollar to secure his services in 2004, seemed to have overstayed his welcome.

Nicknames

Valentino Rossi has had numerous nicknames during his racing career. His first prominent nickname was "Rossifumi." Rossi explained the etymology of this nickname as a reference and tribute to fellow rider Norifumi Abe.

His next nickname appeared some time around his days racing in the 250 cc World Championship. The nickname "Valentinik" was a reference to the Italian Donald Duck superhero, "Paperinik."

Career statistics

By Seasons

Seas	Class	Moto	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
1996	125cc	Aprilia RS125	15	1	2	1	2	111	9th	0
1997	125cc	Aprilia RS125	15	11	13	4	7	321	1st	1
1998	250cc	Aprilia RS250	14	5	9	0	3	201	2nd	0
1999	250cc	Aprilia RS250	16	9	12	5	8	309	1st	1
2000	500cc	Honda NSR500	16	2	10	0	5	209	2nd	0
2001	500cc	Honda NSR500	16	11	13	4	10	325	1st	1
2002	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	16	11	15	7	9	355	1st	1
2003	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	16	9	16	9	12	357	1st	1
2004	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	16	9	11	5	3	304	1st	1
2005	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	17	11	16	5	6	367	1st	1
2006	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	17	5	10	5	4	247	2nd	0
2007	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	18	4	6	4	2	241	3rd	0
Total			183	87	133	49	71	3245		7

By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	1996-1997	1996 Malaysia	1996 Austria	1996 Czech Rep.	30	12	15	5	9	432	1
250 cc	1998-1999	1998 Japan	1998 Spain	1998 Dutch	30	14	21	5	11	510	1
500 cc	2000-2001	2000 South Af.	2000 Spain	2000 British	32	13	23	4	15	534	1
MotoGP	2002-2006	2002 Japan	2002 Japan	2002 Japan	82	45	68	31	34	1630	4
Total	1996-2006				174	84	127	45	69	3106	7

Races by year

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Pos	Pts
1996	125 cc	Aprilia	MAL 6	IND 11	JPN 11	SPA 4	ITA 4	FRA Ret	DUT Ret	GER 5	GBR Ret	AUT 3	CZE 1	IMO 5	CAT Ret	BRA Ret	AUS 14				9th	111
1997	125 cc	Aprilia	MAL 1	JPN Ret	SPA 1	ITA 1	AUT 2	FRA 1	DUT 1	SMR 1	GER 1	BRA 1	GBR 1	CZE 3	CAT 1	IND 1	AUS 6				1st	321
1998	250 cc	Aprilia	JPN Ret	MAL Ret	SPA 2	ITA 2	FRA 2	MAD Ret	DUT 1	GBR Ret	GER 3	CZE Ret	SMR 1	CAT 1	AUS 1	ARG 1					2nd	201
1999	250 cc	Aprilia	MAL 5	JPN 7	SPA 1	FRA Ret	ITA 1	CAT 1	DUT 2	GBR 1	GER 1	CZE 1	SMR 2	VAL 8	AUS 1	SAF 1	BRA 1	ARG 3			1st	309
2000	500 cc	Honda	SAF Ret	MAL Ret	JPN 11	SPA 3	FRA 3	ITA 12	CAT 3	DUT 6	GBR 1	GER 2	CZE 2	POR 3	VAL Ret	BRA 1	PAC 2	AUS 3			2nd	209
2001	500 cc	Honda	JPN 1	SAF 1	SPA 1	FRA 3	ITA Ret	CAT 1	DUT 2	GBR 1	GER 7	CZE 1	POR 1	VAL 11	PAC 1	AUS 1	MAL 1	BRA 1			1st	325
2002	MotoGP	Honda	JPN 1	SAF 2	SPA 1	FRA 1	ITA 1	CAT 1	DUT 1	GBR 1	GER 1	CZE Ret	POR 1	BRA 1	PAC 2	MAL 2	AUS 1	VAL 2			1st	355
2003	MotoGP	Honda	JPN 1	SAF 2	SPA 1	FRA 2	ITA 1	CAT 2	DUT 3	GBR 3	GER 2	CZE 1	POR 1	BRA 1	PAC 2	MAL 1	AUS 1	VAL 1			1st	357
2004	MotoGP	Yamaha	SAF 1	SPA 4	FRA 4	ITA 1	CAT 1	DUT 1	BRA Ret	GER 4	GBR 1	CZE 2	POR 1	JPN 2	QAT Ret	MAL 1	AUS 1	VAL 1			1st	304
2005	MotoGP	Yamaha	SPA 1	POR 2	CHN 1	FRA 1	ITA 1	CAT 1	NED 1	USA 3	GBR 1	GER 1	CZE 1	JPN Ret	MAL 2	QAT 1	AUS 1	TUR 2	VAL 3		1st	367
2006	MotoGP	Yamaha	SPA 13	QAT 1	TUR 4	CHN Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 1	CAT 1	NED 8	GBR 2	GER 1	USA Ret	CZE 2	MAL 1	AUS 3	JPN 2	POR 2	VAL 13		2nd	247
2007	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 2	SPA 1	TUR 10	CHN 2	FRA 6	ITA 1	CAT 2	GBR 4	NED 1	GER Ret	USA 4	CZE 7	RSM Ret	POR 1	JPN 13	AUS 3	MAL 5	VAL Ret	3rd	241
2008	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 5	SPA -	POR -	CHN -	FRA -	ITA -	CAT -	GBR -	NED -	GER -	USA -	CZE -	SMR -	IND -	JPN -	AUS -	MAL -	VAL -	-	-