Valentino Rossi, the current MotoGP champion of Italy, has announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the 2021 season. In 2022, he may be back on the track in a car, rather than a helmet.
“I decided to stop at the end of the season, so unfortunately this will be my last season as a MotoGP rider. It’s difficult, it’s a very sad moment because it’s difficult to say and to know that next year I will not race with motorcycles. I’ve done this for more or less 30 years, so next year my life will change, the 42-year old Italian pilot said during a press conference held at the Red Bull Ring ahead of the Grand Prix of Styria in Austria.
Rossi has nine world championships to his record, and according to Motorcycle News, he is the only rider to have won titles in the 125cc, 250cc, and 500cc categories. He has raced motorcycles from Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, and Yamaha. “I am a little bit sad not to win the 10th championship, especially because I think I deserve this for my level and for my speed,” he said during the conference, before adding, “I don’t think I can complain about the result of my career.”
Rossi still has nine races left in the 2021 MotoGP season, so he isn’t done riding a Yamaha. What happens next is unclear, though he has stated that he will switch from handlebars to a steering wheel in 2022.
“I already said that I love to race with cars, just a little bit less than with a motorcycle. I think I will race with cars from next year. But now, it’s all in the process; it’s not decided yet. I feel that I am a rider or a driver for life. So, I’ll just change from motorcycle to cars,” he noted. He’s used to riding motorcycles, but he’s also raced cars.
Rossi was part of a team that placed fifth overall and fourth in its class at the Gulf 12 hours in Bahrain in 2020. In a Ferrari 488 GT3, he was one of three drivers taking turns racing. In 2002, 2006, and 2008, he raced in three World Rally Championship events. Initially, I drove a Peugeot 206, then a Subaru Impreza, and eventually a Ford Focus RS. His best finish came in 2006 at the Rally New Zealand, where he finished 11th.
Rossi also tested for Ferrari’s Formula One team numerous times between 2004 and 2010, and his speed was astonishing for someone with no prior racing experience, but he later clarified that it was “just for fun.”
Fiat Group chairman Luca di Montezemolo declared at the time that he “would do anything” to get Rossi on the Ferrari team. Nothing suggests he’ll be going head-to-head with Lewis Hamilton in 2022, but he’s open to all possibilities.
“At the moment, I don’t know which cars. I don’t know which races. I’ve said that I want to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and have a lot of car racing around the world,” he summed up.
The uniforms of MOTOGP racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price:
