Rossi competed in the 2023 Road to Le Mans with Team WRT, alongside Jérôme Policand, [424] in preparation for a planned debut at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans. Rossi and Policand scored a class victory in the second race, having been promoted to the position after the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Kei Cozzolino and Hiroshi Koizumi was penalized for "erratic driving". [425] 24H GT Series [ edit ] Since then the two have not spoken and Rossi seemed to use the incident to apply psychological pressure on Gibernau. Rumours of Rossi having sworn that after the Qatar race, which Gibernau won while Rossi crashed out after rising to 6th position, he would do everything to make sure that Gibernau never stood on the highest step of the podium again. However, Rossi has denied these claims. [440] Rossi ended the year on a low. At the Japanese round, he crashed out of the race on the first lap after a couple of corners. He collided with Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies and left Rossi with a blow to his finger. [255] Another retirement followed in Australia when Rossi tried to overtake Álvaro Bautista for fifth on lap 14, lost the front of his Ducati and slid out of the race. [256] The 1996 championship season marks the debut of Rossi in grand prix motorcycle racing. He had some success in his first year, scoring consistent points and sometimes finishing just off the podium from his first race at Malaysia to Italy, but retired in both the French and Dutch rounds. He scored more points by finishing fifth at the German race but suffered another retirement at the British round. Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and MotoGP 2021". serabutan.com. 29 January 2020. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020 . Retrieved 1 February 2020.

Rossi had been linked with a move to both Formula One and the World Rally Championship in 2007, having tested for Ferrari and competed in a number of rally events. [502] Poor results continued at his "home grand prix" in San Marino and Aragón when Rossi only managed to finish seventh and tenth, battling with the Tech 3 Yamaha of Cal Crutchlow before he got the better of Rossi to cross the line 0.180 seconds ahead of him. [253] [254]Roberts Victorious in Rain-Interrupted Malaysian 500 GP". Motorcycledaily.com. 2 April 2000. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019 . Retrieved 15 April 2019. Max Biaggi at the 2005 British Grand Prix and Loris Capirossi with Rossi and Dani Pedrosa on the podium at the 2006 Czech Republic Grand Prix Loris Capirossi The five of them drove the BMW M4 GT3, according to the class they participated in, namely the GT3. The GT3 class is attended by 20 cars which is the most from all classes. [426] At the opening round in Qatar, Rossi lined up fourteenth on the grid on Saturday but stormed through the field to finish in fifth at the line, +0.600 seconds behind race winner Andrea Dovizioso. [377] At the next race in Argentina, he rode a strong race where he battled with the Ducati of Dovizioso, overtaking him on the last lap to finish second, his first podium since the 2018 German round. [378] [379] At the third round in the Americas, Rossi again finished second after Marc Márquez crashed out of the race and Rossi was overtaken by the Suzuki of Álex Rins with four laps to go. Eventually, Rins crossed the line 0.462 seconds ahead of Rossi to win his first ever MotoGP race. [380] After the good results in Argentina and the U.S., Rossi only managed to finish in sixth and fifth place in Spain and France. After Rossi wrapped up the title in Motegi with an unassailable lead of 92 points, he scored three more podiums: a second-place finish behind home hero Stoner in Australia, another win in Malaysia and a third place at the Valencian Community round. [188] [189] [190]

He retired once more in the Czech Republic, crashing out of the race, but a flurry of victories from Imola to Argentina saw him end in second place in his rookie year in the class with 201 points, just 23 points behind 1998 250cc champion Loris Capirossi.McCoy (500) and Nakano (250) Victorious at Valencia GP". Motorcycledaily.com. 17 September 2000. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019 . Retrieved 15 April 2019. 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 at 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] Is Rossi the greatest of all time? | GRR". Archived from the original on 7 October 2022 . Retrieved 4 August 2022.

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 wins despite McWilliams grit". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 9 July 2000. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015 . Retrieved 15 July 2015. Rossi finished first in the championship with 306 points, 72 points ahead of second-place Jorge Lorenzo. Six wins was the lowest number of wins Rossi has had in a championship winning season; the previous minima were nine in 1999 in the 250cc class and 2003, 2004 and 2008 in MotoGP. Rossi also failed to win at Mugello for the first time since 2001.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. Rossi triumphs in all-Italian showdown". Crash. 8 June 2003. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019 . Retrieved 16 August 2019. On 31 May 2005 he received an honorary degree in Communications and Advertising for Organizations. In March 2010, the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini delivered to Rossi the first Winning Italy Award for his contribution to the promotion of Italy's image in the world. [508] MotoGP World Championship [ edit ] Honda (2002–2003) [ edit ] 2002 [ edit ] Rossi riding his Honda RC211V MotoGP bike In 1995, Rossi switched to Aprilia and won the Italian 125 CC Championship. He was third in the European Championship.

In 2008, Jorge Lorenzo joined Rossi in the Factory Yamaha team which started a new rivalry. Initially, relationships were friendly; Rossi won the 2008 title while Lorenzo suffered two serious crashes at Shanghai and Laguna Seca which prevented any serious rivalries from ever starting to begin with, Rossi concentrated more on his rivalry with Casey Stoner at the time. a b "Yamaha and Valentino to part company at end of 2010". Yamaha Motor Racing. Yamaha Motor Company. 15 August 2010. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 . Retrieved 15 August 2010. MotoGP– Valentino Rossi". Yamaha Racing. 16 February 1979. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013 . Retrieved 1 March 2010. Rossi has gone through numerous helmet designs throughout his career, most featuring the Sun & Moon motif, signifying (according to Rossi) the two sides of his personality. His helmets are manufactured by AGV. [520] Aldo Drudi was associated with Rossi's helmet graphics in 2010. Nearly every year, Rossi works with Aldo Drudi to design a unique helmet to use while racing at the Italian and San Marino Grand Prix. [521] In Spain, Rossi took pole position – his first since the Dutch round last year and his 52nd pole position overall – on Saturday, then led the race from start-to-finish with the exception of one corner to win. The race marked the first time in his MotoGP career that Rossi led every lap of a race from pole position. [329] [330] At the French round, Rossi started a lowly seventh on the grid but recovered in the race, overtaking both Márquez and Dovizioso in the process to finish second with the fastest lap of the race, the race being won by Yamaha teammate Lorenzo. [331] Rossi suffered an engine failure on his home race in Italy when battling Lorenzo for the lead after starting from pole position. [332] It was Rossi's first technical failure since the 2007 San Marino Grand Prix.Beyond his interest in F1, Rossi's strong passion is for rallying. In Rossi's youth one of his heroes was WRC Champion Colin McRae. Rally legend McRae taught Rossi the basics of driving a rally car. [499] The two competed against each other at the 2005 Monza Rally Show, with McRae driving a Skoda Fabia WRC and Rossi winning in a Subaru Impreza WRC. [500] His first official foray into rallying came in 2002 at WRC Rally Great Britain in a Peugeot 206 WRC, in which he crashed out on the second stage (first non-superspecial stage). Rossi had competed in the Monza Rally Show several times in a Toyota Corolla WRC. At the Japanese race, another retirement came for Rossi. He crashed out of a lowly eleventh place at Turn 1 with four laps to go. This was Rossi's fourth DNF of the season, equalling his 1998 season and the highest amount in his MotoGP career. [390] [391] Rossi ended the season only being able to score points: he finished in eighth place in Australia, fourth place in Malaysia – narrowly losing out on the podium but taking the fastest lap of the race – and eighth again in Valencia.