Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. have today announced the completion of a two year contract with MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi. Despite comments from Rossi at the press conference to announce his departure from Honda last week that he could not confirm his destination until after the 31st December, Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, has officially confirmed that the Italian will be incorporated into the factory squad from the 1st January and will make his debut on the YZR-M1 at the first round of the new season on the 18th April.
"We are all extremely happy that Valentino will be joining Yamaha in 2004," commented Mr Jarvis. "In our discussions with him it is clear that he relishes the challenge of achieving our goal in MotoGP as much as we do. He is an incredible talent and will make a huge difference. Obviously there is a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we are confident that we can give Valentino the means to achieve more World Championships and we look forward to the challenge ahead. This is a very important step in our plan to re-establish Yamaha as a leading force in Grand Prix racing.
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Rossi will be joining Spaniard Carlos Checa in the Yamaha factory team based near Monza in Italy and run by team director Davide Brivio. Checa's current team-mate, Marco Melandri, will move to the Tech 3 Yamaha team (currently the Gauloises Yamaha Team), managed by team principal Hervé Poncharal. Both teams will continue under the Yamaha-Altadis umbrella sponsorship agreement with the Gauloises and Fortuna brands, although final colours and co-sponsors for the 2004 season have yet to be announced.
källa:motogp.com
"We are all extremely happy that Valentino will be joining Yamaha in 2004," commented Mr Jarvis. "In our discussions with him it is clear that he relishes the challenge of achieving our goal in MotoGP as much as we do. He is an incredible talent and will make a huge difference. Obviously there is a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we are confident that we can give Valentino the means to achieve more World Championships and we look forward to the challenge ahead. This is a very important step in our plan to re-establish Yamaha as a leading force in Grand Prix racing.
"
Rossi will be joining Spaniard Carlos Checa in the Yamaha factory team based near Monza in Italy and run by team director Davide Brivio. Checa's current team-mate, Marco Melandri, will move to the Tech 3 Yamaha team (currently the Gauloises Yamaha Team), managed by team principal Hervé Poncharal. Both teams will continue under the Yamaha-Altadis umbrella sponsorship agreement with the Gauloises and Fortuna brands, although final colours and co-sponsors for the 2004 season have yet to be announced.
källa:motogp.com
