Italian motorcycle racer (born 1979)
| Valentino Rossi | |
|---|---|
Rossi at the 2017 Aragon Grand Prix | |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Born | (1979-02-16) 16 February 1979 (age 45) Urbino, Italy |
| Bike number | 46 (retired in honour in the MotoGP class) |
| Website | www.valentinorossi.com |
| Debut season | 2022 |
| Current team | Team WRT |
| Racing licence | FIA Silver |
| Car number | 46 |
| Starts | 24 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Podiums | 5 |
| Poles | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Finished last season | 5th in 2023 |
| Debut season | 2022 |
| Current team | Team WRT |
| Car number | 46 |
| Starts | 11 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Finished last season | 15th in 2023 |
| Debut season | 2024 |
| Current team | Team WRT |
| Years active | 2024–present |
| Car number | 46 |
| Starts | 7 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 2 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 2nd in 2024 |
| 1998–2018 2002, 2006, 2008 2012 2019–2023 2023 2023 2023 | Monza Rally Show World Rally Championship Blancpain Endurance Series Gulf 12 Hours 24H Series Intercontinental GT Challenge Le Mans Cup – GT3 |
| 2006–2007, 2012, 2015–2018 | Monza Rally Show |
Valentino Rossi (ROSS-ee, Italian:[valenˈtiːnoˈrossi]; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed The Doctor, Rossi is widely considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time.[a] He is also the only road racer to have competed in 400 or more Grands Prix.[4] Of Rossi's nine Grand Prix World Championships, seven were in the premier 500cc/MotoGP class. He holds the record for most premier class victories and podiums, with 89 victories and 199 podiums to his name. He won premier class World Championships with both Honda and Yamaha. He rode with the number 46 for his entire career.
After graduating to the premier class in 2000, Rossi won the final 500cc World Championship (becoming the last satellite rider to win the top-class title until Jorge Martín in 2024) and the Suzuka 8 Hours race with Honda in 2001. He also won MotoGP World Championships with the factory Repsol Honda team in 2002 and 2003 and continued his run of back-to-back championships by winning the 2004 and 2005 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha. He lost the 2006 title with a crash in the final round at Valencia. In 2007, he ultimately finished third overall, before regaining the title in 2008 and retaining it in 2009.[5] After a 2010 season marred by a broken leg and no title defence, he left Yamaha to join the Ducati factory team, replacing Casey Stoner for the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and endured two winless seasons with the Italian marque.[6][7]
Rossi returned to Yamaha in 2013 and finished fourth in the standings followed by three successive runner-up positions in 2014, 2015 and 2016. His best chance of winning a tenth title came in 2015, where he led the standings for most of the season, finishing five points behind team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, the eventual champion. 2017 was the final season in which he achieved over 200 championship points, and he won his final race victory in the 2017 Dutch TT at the age of 38. After three winless seasons with the Yamaha factory team, he moved to Petronas SRT for 2021, retiring after only one season with the satellite Yamaha team and failing to achieve a podium for the first time in a career spanning 26 seasons in Grands Prix. The dominant force in MotoGP in the 2000s, all of Rossi's seven premier class titles came in this decade, including 77 race wins and 48 pole positions. In the ensuing 12 seasons, he managed 12 race wins and seven pole positions. During this period, Rossi was the 6th most successful rider in terms of total race victories.[8]
Rossi was inducted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame as an official Legend by the FIM at the awards ceremony after the conclusion of the 2021 season.[9] His #46 bike number was retired at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.[10] Rossi owns and manages the Racing Team VR46, which competes in MotoGP as of 2024.[11] In addition to his team management role, Rossi competes full-time in the FIA World Endurance Championship, driving for Team WRT,[12] in a BMW M4 GT3, which also bears the now iconic number 46.
Rossi was born in Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy.[13] While he was a child, his family moved to Tavullia. The son of former motorcycle racer Graziano Rossi, he began riding at a very young age.[14] Rossi's first racing love, however, was kart racing. Fuelled by his mother, Stefania's, concern for her son's safety, Graziano purchased a kart as a substitute for the bike. However, the Rossi family trait of perpetually wanting to go faster prompted a redesign; Graziano replaced the 60 cc motor with a 100 cc national kart motor for his then 5-year-old son.[15]
Rossi won the regional kart championship in 1990.[16] After this, he took up minimoto and, before the end of 1991, had won numerous regional races.[14]
Rossi continued to race karts and finished fifth at the national kart championships in Parma. Both he and his father thought about transitioning to the Italian 100cc series and the European series, which could have potentially directed him toward Formula One. However, the high costs associated with kart racing led them to choose to focus solely on racing minimotos.[citation needed] Through 1992 and 1993, Valentino continued to learn the ins and outs of minimoto racing.
In 1993, Rossi was given his first opportunity to ride a 125cc motorcycle by former world champion Paolo Pileri, who became a team manager after retiring from competition.[17] Later in 1993, with help from his father, Virginio Ferrari, Claudio Castiglioni and Cagiva factory racing team manager Claudio Lusuardi, Rossi competed in the 125 cc Italian Sport Production Championship on a Cagiva Mito alongside teammate Vittoriano Guareschi.[18] At his first race meeting with the Cagiva team, he damaged his motorcycle in a first-corner crash no more than a hundred metres from the pit lane. He finished ninth in that race weekend.
Although his first season in the Italian Sport Production Championship was varied, he achieved a pole position in the season's final race at Misano, where he would ultimately finish on the podium. By the second year, Rossi had been provided with a factory Mito by Lusuardi and won the Italian title.
In 1994, Rossi raced in the Italian 125 CC Championship with a prototype called Sandroni, using a Rotax engine. The bike was built by Guido Mancini, a former rider and mechanic who had worked, in the past, with Loris Capirossi. A documentary about Mancini, called "Mancini, the Motorcycle Wizard" (Il Mago Mancini), was released in 2016 by director Jeffrey Zani and explains the birth of the motorcycle and the relationship between Rossi and the mechanic. In 1995, Rossi switched to Aprilia and won the Italian 125 CC Championship. He was third in the European Championship.
The 1996 championship season marked the debut of Rossi, then 17, in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. He had some success in his first year, scoring consistent points and sometimes finishing just off the podium in his races from Malaysia to Italy, but he retired in both the French and Dutch rounds. He scored more points by finishing fifth in Germany, but suffered another retirement in the British round.
At the 1996 Austrian Grand Prix, Rossi achieved his first ever podium by finishing in third place after battling with Jorge Martínez.[20][21] In the following race, the 1996 Czech Republic Grand Prix, he achieved both his first ever pole position, on the Saturday, and his first ever race victory in the 125cc class on the Sunday. He rode an AGVAprilia RS125R and won after another tussle with Jorge Martínez.[22]
Rossi earned more points at Imola but was forced to retire in both the Catalan and Rio rounds. He scored points in the final round in Australia, finishing his first season in ninth place with 111 points.
In his second year, the 1997 championship season, he moved from the AGV team to the official Nastro Azzurro Aprilia Team and went on to dominate the season. He immediately started with a pole and race win at the 1997 Malaysian Grand Prix but retired from the next race in Japan. In the next two races, he bounced back by winning the Spanish and Italian rounds. Rossi finished second in Austria, just 0.004 seconds behind winner Noboru Ueda,[20][21] then scored a flurry of victories from France to Britain, including three pole positions in the Dutch, Imola and German rounds.
After third place in the Czech round, Rossi then gained two more wins in the Catalan and Indonesian races. He finished sixth in Australia. He won the 1997 125cc title, winning 11 of the 15 races with 321 points.[23] Throughout the season, he dressed up as Robin Hood and carried a blow-up doll on a few occasions. His fun-loving character gained him many fans at the time and in future seasons.[24]
After winning the 125cc title in 1997, Rossi moved up to the 250cc class the following year. In the 1998 season, the Aprilia RS250 was reaching its pinnacle and had a team of riders in Rossi, Loris Capirossi and Tetsuya Harada. Rossi had to retire from the first two races in Japan and Malaysia. He came back from this by scoring three consecutive second places in Spain, Italy, and France, but retired once more from the Madrid round.
He scored his first victory at the 1998 Dutch TT, when he was more than 19 seconds ahead of second-placed Jürgen Fuchs.[25] He had to retire from the British Grand Prix but bounced back by achieving a podium place in Germany, finishing third.
In the Czech Republic, he crashed out of the race, but then enjoyed a flurry of victories from Imola to Argentina. He finished the season, his rookie year in the class, as the championship runner-up with 201 points, just 23 behind champion Loris Capirossi.
In the 1999 season, his second year in the 250cc class, Rossi became the sole driver of the official Aprilia Grand Prix Racing team, and dominated the championship. He began with a pole position in Malaysia but finished fifth on race day. He gained further points in Japan and went on to win the third round in Spain. Rossi had his second pole position of the season in France, but retired from the race. He bounced back with back-to-back wins in Italy and Catalunya. He finished second at the Dutch round, narrowly losing out to Capirossi. He then won the next three races from the British to the Czech Grands Prix.
Rossi finished second in Imola, but was off the podium in eighth place at Valencia.[26] He finished the season strongly with three more wins: one in Australia, where he fought hard against Olivier Jacque, one in South Africa, and one in Rio de Janeiro.[27][28] After that, he finished third in Argentina despite starting in pole position.[29] He actually won the title in Rio de Janeiro, with the Argentinian round in hand, and finished the season with 309 points, his first 250cc world championship title and his second title overall.[30]
After achieving the 250cc World Championship in 1999, Rossi was given a seat with Honda in what was then the highest class in World Championship motorcycle racing, the 500cc. Retired five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan, who had also had Jeremy Burgess as chief engineer, worked with Rossi as his personal mentor in his first year with Honda.[31] It was also the first time Rossi raced against Max Biaggi.
Rossi started off his first year in the 500cc class with retirements in the first two rounds: he crashed out of the South African and Malaysian races.[32][33] He scored points in the third round in Japan and picked up two third-place finishes in Spain and France.[34][35] Rossi picked up additional points in Italy and another third-place podium finish in the Catalan round.[36] He gained more points by finishing sixth in the 2000 Dutch TT.
It took nine races before Rossi won on the Honda, but his first 500cc victory came after a fierce battle with the Suzuki of Kenny Roberts Jr. and the Aprilia of Jeremy McWilliams. On a track that was affected by ever-changing weather conditions and despite only qualifying in seventh position on Saturday, the Italian chose the right tyres and stormed through the field to battle with Roberts Jr. and McWilliams and win his first race in the 500cc class.[37][38] After his victory in Donington Park, Rossi went on to score consecutive podium places in the next three races: two second-place finishes in Germany and the Czech Republic and one third-place finish in Portugal.[39][40][41] He retired from the Valencian Community round after a crash.[42]
Rossi won the Rio round. However, it was Kenny Roberts Jr. who clinched the 2000 title after finishing in sixth position, which gave him an unassailable lead in the championship.[43][44][45] After his second 500cc win, Rossi went on to finish second in the Pacific race and third in the Australian races.[46][47][48] He finished second in his rookie season in the 500cc class with 209 points.
Rossi dominated his second season in the 500cc class, scoring 11 wins and only finishing off the podium three times. He started the year off with a victory in Japan after battling with Max Biaggi. He then achieved back-to-back poles and race wins in the South African and Spanish rounds.[49][50] He finished the French race in third place but crashed out of the Italian round whilst leading the wet race after taking another pole on Saturday.[51][52][53]
Rossi bounced back by taking pole position and winning the following race in Catalunya, despite making a poor start that dropped him to 15th place at the end of the first lap.[54] He scored a second place after narrowly losing out on the race victory with Biaggi in the Dutch round. He followed this up with another win: this time the British GP.
Rossi finished a disappointing seventh in Germany but then took back-to-back wins in the Czech Republic (gaining a 29-point advantage over Biaggi) and Portugal.[55][56] He had another disappointing result in the Valencian Community round when he finished in 11th place, but then scored a string of race wins from the Pacific to the Rio rounds.
Rossi won his first 500cc title with 325 points and third title overall,[57] 106 points ahead of Biaggi, who became Rossi's main rival during the season. During the season, Rossi also teamed up with American rider Colin Edwards for the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race aboard a Honda VTR1000SPW, becoming the first Italian rider to win the race. The pair won the race despite Rossi's lack of experience racing superbikes. In 2002, 500cc two-strokes were still allowed, but saw the beginning of the 990cc four-stroke MotoGP class, after which the 500cc machines essentially became obsolete.
The inaugural year for the MotoGP bikes was 2002, when riders experienced teething problems getting used to the new bikes. Rossi started the year off strong and won the first race in wet conditions in Japan, beating several local riders who were racing as wildcards.[58] He also took the pole position in the first five races.
Rossi finished second in South Africa, where his teammate Tohru Ukawa took his first and only victory in the MotoGP class. He then scored victories from the Spanish to the German rounds, including two pole positions in the Dutch and British GPs.[59][60] His only retirement of the season was from the Czech Republic round. He then had back-to-back wins in Portugal and Rio, two second-place finishes in the Pacific and Malaysia, another victory in Australia and a second-place finish in the final race in the Valencian Community.[61]
Rossi went on to win eight of the first nine races of the season, eventually claiming 11 victories in total.[62] He clinched his second title in the Rio de Janeiro race, his first in the inaugural class, and fourth title overall with four races remaining.[63]
After a strong 2002, Rossi continued to dominate in 2003 despite competition from emerging Spaniard Sete Gibernau. Rossi took pole and won the first round of the season in Japan, but the race was marred by the death of Japanese rider Daijiro Kato who crashed in the 130R and hit the barrier at high speed in the ensuing Casio Triangle.[64][65] Rossi finished second in the South African round before winning again in Spain, despite falling back to ninth place on the opening lap.[66][67]
Rossi scored three pole positions in the next three races and finished second in France after battling with Gibernau, who overtook him on the last lap.[68][69] He won in Italy and came second again in Catalunya.[70][71] He took two third-place finishes in the Dutch and British rounds – the latter the result of a ten-second penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, gifting victory to Max Biaggi in the process – and another second place in Germany, once again battling Gibernau who denied him victory with just 0.060 seconds separating both when they crossed the finish line after a titanic battle between the two.[72][73][74]
After Germany, Rossi won three more races and scored two more poles: a pole position converted into a victory came in the Czech Republic where he battled with championship rival Gibernau once more, Rossi overtaking him on the final lap to take victory by just 0.042 seconds.[75] A regular victory came in Portugal and another pole-victory came in the Rio de Janeiro rounds.[76][77] He finished second in the Pacific GP after a mistake made him run off into the gravel and relegated him to ninth, which made it impossible for him to catch race winner Biaggi in the closing laps.[78]
Rossi ended his season in style by scoring three consecutive poles and race wins in the Malaysian, Australian and Valencian Community rounds. The Australian Grand Prix in Phillip Island is considered by many observers to be one of Rossi's greatest career moments due to the unique circumstances. After being given a ten-second penalty for overtaking Marco Melandri under yellow flags due to a crash by Ducati rider Troy Bayliss, front runner Rossi pulled away from the rest of the field after being informed of the penalty, eventually finishing more than 15 seconds ahead, overcoming the penalty and winning the race.[79][80]
Rossi won the 2003 title in Malaysia, his third in the top class and fifth title overall, with two races remaining.[81] He won the final race in the Valencian Community round with a special livery, this race marking his final win for Honda.[82]
With increased scepticism that the reason for his success was the dominance of the RC211V rather than Rossi, they parted ways at the end of the season.[83] Mid-season rumours pointed towards a possible move to Ducati, which sent the Italian press into a frenzy; the concept of Rossi on the great Italian bike seemed too good to be true. Ducati did indeed try to seduce Rossi into riding their MotoGP bike, the Desmosedici, but for numerous reasons Rossi passed the offer up. Critics say that compared to the other manufacturers, Ducati had a significant way to go before being competitive even with Rossi at the helm. This proved to be the truth with Ducati's lacklustre performance in the 2004 season, which had actually been worse than their inaugural year in MotoGP in 2003. In his 2005 autobiography, What If I'd Never Tried It?, Rossi offered another reason for choosing Yamaha over Ducati, saying that the mindset at Ducati Corse was similar to the one he was trying to escape from at Honda. Ultimately, Rossi signed a two-year contract with rivals Yamaha reportedly worth in excess of US$12 million; a price no other manufacturer, even Honda, was willing to pay.[84][31][85]
Rossi made the switch from Honda to Yamaha and signed a two-year contract with the team.[86][87] Many doubted his move and would expect Biaggi, who joined the Honda Pons team a year earlier, as well as Gibernau to be genuine contenders for the title this year.
With the traditional first venue of the season in Suzuka having been taken off the calendar due to safety concerns following the fatal accident of Daijiro Kato in 2003, the 2004 season started in Welkom in South Africa. Rossi took the pole on Saturday and won the South African race after a hard-fought battle with Max Biaggi, becoming the first ever rider to win consecutive races with different manufacturers, having won the final race of the previous season on his Honda bike.[88][89][90] Rossi took another pole in Spain but his fourth-place finish on Sunday saw the end of a 23-race podium streak.[91] He once again had to miss out on the podium in France but responded with three consecutive victories in Italy, Catalunya and the Netherlands, a race that he won from pole after a hard-fought battle with Gibernau.[92][93][94]
In the Rio de Janeiro race, Rossi crashed out when he lost the front of his M1 and slid into the gravel whilst battling with Makoto Tamada, Max Biaggi, Nicky Hayden and Alex Barros, forcing him to retire from the race.[95] After the Rio round, Rossi found himself off the podium once more in fourth place in the German GP but bounced back by winning the British round from pole.[96][97] He then went on to finish second in the Czech Republic, first in Portugal and second once again in Japan.[98][99]
In the inaugural Qatar round, controversy arose when Rossi's team was penalised by starting in the back of the grid for grid cleaning. Gibernau won the race, whilst Rossi crashed out of the race when he was in sixth position.[100][101][102] Despite this second DNF of the season, Rossi scored a pole that he converted into a win in Malaysia and two more regular victories in the Australian and Valencian Community rounds, battling with the likes of Troy Bayliss, Nicky Hayden, Makoto Tamada and Max Biaggi to take his ninth victory of the year.[103]
Rossi finished first with 304 points to Gibernau's 257, with Max Biaggi third with 217 points. He clinched his third MotoGP, fourth top class and sixth overall championship in the penultimate race of the season in Phillip Island, beating Gibernau by just 0.097 seconds to do so.[104]
In 2005, Rossi and the Factory Yamaha team proved to be even more dominant than the year before. Rossi immediately began the season by capturing pole and winning the first round in Spain in a controversial manner, colliding with the Gresini Honda of Sete Gibernau on the last lap.[105] He scored a second-place finish in Portugal but then went on to take five consecutive victories from the Chinese to the Dutch rounds, including three pole positions in France, Italy and Assen.[106][107][108]
In the first United States round since 1994, Rossi struggled and finish in third place whilst local hero Nicky Hayden won the race.[109][110][111][112] Rossi bounced back by picking up three more wins, starting from a pole-victory in a rainy Great Britain and two regular victories in Germany, holding off Gibernau on the last lap, and the Czech Republic.[113][114][115]
Rossi's crashed out of the Japanese round when he collided with Marco Melandri during a failed overtaking attempt. This was the only time he failed to make the podium that season.[116] After Motegi, Rossi scored a podium in the form of second place in Malaysia and back-to-back wins in Qatar and Australia, beating Nicky Hayden for the victory.[117][118] He finished the season with a second and third-place finish in the inaugural Turkish and the Valencian Community rounds.[119][120]
Rossi finished the season in first place with a total of 367 points, 147 points ahead of second-place finisher Marco Melandri and captured his fourth MotoGP, fifth top class and seventh overall championship in Sepang with four races remaining.[121][122] He won 11 races including wins in three rain-affected races in Shanghai, Le Mans and Donington.
The 2006 season started off with Rossi once again being the favourite to win the title. However, in the first round in Spain, Rossi was unlucky when Toni Elías misjudged his braking point into a corner and hit the rear wheel of the Italian, who crashed into the gravel as a result. He rejoined the race but only managed to finish 14th.[123][124] In the next race in Qatar, he scored his first win of the season but finished just off the podium in the next round in Turkey.[125][126]
Going into the third round in China, disaster would strike again when Rossi was forced to retire after he moved up from thirteenth to fifth and was battling with Colin Edwards and John Hopkins for third position. A chunk of rubber from his front tyre had been thrown onto his front fender, knocking it off the motorbike.[127] Things didn't improve for him in the next round in France, he brushed the back of Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, causing him to run wide and hit Randy de Puniet who then fell from his Kawasaki after striking Sete Gibernau. After climbing his way back up to second, Rossi overtook Hopkins on the fifth lap and started to pull a gap from Pedrosa after Hopkins lost the front of his Suzuki in an off-camber right-hander on lap 10 and retired. He was leading comfortably in first place with a gap of over three seconds until his Yamaha had a mechanical problem on lap 21, forcing Rossi to retire again. Rossi would leave Le Mans eighth in the standings with a 43-points deficit to Nicky Hayden.[128]
After these two disappointing races, Rossi bounced back by scoring two wins: a regular victory in Italy and a pole-victory in Catalunya.[129][130] In the Dutch round, he only finished eighth after he fractured his hand and ankle when he fell on Thursday. The race was won by Nicky Hayden, who battled with Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards on the last lap. Edwards tried to lunge past Hayden, but ran wide onto the gravel and eventually fell in the last corner.[131]
With the disappointing result in Assen, Rossi took second place in Great Britain and another win in Germany, fighting tooth and nail with the three Honda's of Marco Melandri, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa.[132] However, he retired once more in the United States round due to mechanical problems in the last few laps; local hero Nicky Hayden won the event to retain his title. This extended Hayden's lead over Rossi by 34 points to 51 and saw Rossi drop to fourth in the championship.[133][134]
Going into round 12 in the Czech Republic, Rossi picked up a pole and a second place, and then won the next round in Malaysia.[135] Hayden held the points lead throughout most of the season, but by now Rossi was slowly working his way up the points ladder. A third place in Australia and a further second position in Japan saw the points lead of Hayden reduced from 51 points in Laguna Seca to 12 points in Motegi, with Rossi moving from fourth to second in the championship standings.[136][137]
Going into the penultimate round of the season in Portugal, Rossi took pole position on Saturday. On Sunday, Hayden was taken out by his teammate Dani Pedrosa on lap 5, causing both riders to retire. On the last lap, Toni Elías who was in third place, overtook both Kenny Roberts Jr. and Rossi to take the lead. Rossi eventually got back in front, but Elías shot past him in the final corner and won the race with a minuscule 0.002 second advantage over Rossi.[138][139] This led to Rossi taking the points lead by 8 points going into the last round of the year.
In the final race of the season, the Valencian Community round, Rossi needed to finish in second place or higher to win the title. He took the second consecutive pole position on Saturday whilst Hayden could only qualify fifth.[140] However, Rossi got a poor start on Sunday when the red lights went out, dropping him back in seventh place. On lap five, he made a mistake, lost the front wheel of his M1 and slid out of contention. He managed to get going again, but it would be to no avail: Rossi only managed to finish 13th, finishing the season on 247 points and losing the title to Nicky Hayden by just five points. The race was won by wildcard rider Troy Bayliss, who replaced the injured Sete Gibernau.[141] After the race, Rossi called his fall "a disaster" but congratulated Nicky on his won title as well.[142]
After Rossi lost the title in 2006, he nonetheless tried again in 2007 as he was still one of the favourites to win the championship. The engine capacity of the bikes was reduced from 990cc to 800cc for this season and over the winter, Yamaha worked on a new bike fitting these specifications for both Rossi and Colin Edwards.[143] In the season opener in Qatar, Rossi took his first pole position of the year on Saturday but came second to Casey Stoner on the Ducati on Sunday, who had made the switch from the LCR Honda team to the Factory Ducati team.[144] Rossi then won the second race in Spain to bounce back.[145] In Turkey, Rossi clinched another pole on Saturday but eventually finished way down in tenth position after running wide on the fast turn eleven when he pushed hard to break away on the opening lap. Rossi fought his way back to second, overtaking Loris Capirossi on lap nine, but lost positions quickly after the Michelin tyres started to fade and he suffered from a mysterious lack of speed, which allowed Toni Elías, Capirossi, John Hopkins, Marco Melandri and Alex Barros to overtake him within three laps. Stoner led every lap, won the race and gained a 10-point lead over Rossi in the process.[146]
Rossi, once again finding himself on the backfoot in the championship, responded in China by setting another pole position on Saturday and finishing in second place after battling hard with Stoner. The Australian, who made good use of the straight line speed of the Ducati on the long straight, blasted past Rossi every time he got overtaken earlier on the circuit.[147] In the French round, Chris Vermeulen on the Suzuki won a rain-affected race. Rossi initially started well and even overtook Stoner in the early part of the race to make a break but when the rain intensified, Rossi and his YZR-M1 struggled and were overtaken by Stoner, Randy de Puniet, Sylvain Guintoli and later also Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa and Alex Hofmann. Rossi eventually finished in sixth whilst Stoner crossed the line in third, extending his championship lead by 21 points.[148]
In Italy, he won his first race of the season and in round seven in Catalunya, Rossi took his fourth and final pole of the season.[149][150][151] After a hard-fought battle with Stoner, Rossi finished second by just 0.069 seconds and lost out again.[152][153][154] In Great Britain, Rossi finished just outside of the podium in fourth but bounced back in the Dutch round in great fashion by winning the race from eleventh on the grid.[155] He overtook many riders and eventually did the same to Stoner with four laps to go, building up a small gap he never gave away when crossing the line.[156][157]
After Rossi's great win in Assen, bad luck struck when he crashed on lap five of the German round and was forced to retire. He had made a poor start, dropping him from sixth to ninth on lap one, but was quick to regain two positions before struggling to pass Randy de Puniet for sixth place. When Rossi tried to squeeze his bike next to the Kawasaki of de Puniet, he lost the front of his M1 in low speed through a long right-hander and slid into the gravel.[158] Rossi then picked up more points by finishing in fourth and seventh place in the United States and Czech Republic, but by then Stoner had built up a 60-point gap over Rossi when they left round 12.[159]
Rossi retired again in the new San Marino venue whilst Stoner took his eighth win of the season, extending his championship lead from 60 to 85 points.[160][161] In the next round in Portugal, Rossi would win his final race of the season after a close fight with the Honda of Dani Pedrosa. Rossi worked his way up from fifth to third on the opening lap, overtaking Stoner on lap nine after Pedrosa did the same two laps earlier. He then overtook Pedrosa on lap ten and a fight commenced where Pedrosa re-overtook Rossi on lap 16, only taking the first spot back from the Spaniard with four laps left after he ran wide. Rossi made a similar error and Pedrosa retook the lead just half a lap later. Pedrosa was still narrowly ahead but Rossi was better on the brakes and plunged down the inside of the first corner in turn one. The move failed and he ran wide, but carried enough momentum to try the same move again a few corners later, this time succeeding. Rossi crossed the line 0.175 seconds ahead of Pedrosa to win his fourth race of the season.[162]
In the Japanese round, Rossi suffered from braking problems on his second bike after all riders were forced to swap bikes due to the drying track, finishing in 13th position. This was enough for Casey Stoner to become 2007 world champion after he finished the race in sixth position and gave him an unassailable lead in the championship.[163] Rossi went on to take one last podium in Australia, finishing in third place, then picked up points in fifth position in the Malaysian round.[164] In the last race of the season, the Valencian Community race, Rossi started way back in 17th due to a fracture of three bones in his right hand after he fell during qualifying. He took 16th on lap seven and passed Shinya Nakano for 15th and thus the final point, but was forced to retire on lap 18 after his YZR-M1 suffered a technical problem, this marking his third DNF of the season.[165] The race was won by Dani Pedrosa, with Casey Stoner about five seconds behind in second place.[166]
Stoner dominated the season, winning ten races to take his first title, 125 points clear of second place Dani Pedrosa. Rossi on the other hand, finished in third place with 241 points, six less than in 2006. This was Rossi's lowest championship position since his first season in 1996 in the 125cc. Pedrosa's win in the last race in Valencia combined with Rossi's retirement meant that he beat Rossi by a single point.