Valentino Rossi is to leave Ducati and rejoin Yamaha after signing a two-year deal with the latter, according to the BBC. Rossi, who will leave at the end of the season, will race alongside rival Jorge Lorenzo. The Italian won 46 Grands Prix and four world champion titles over a seven-year period with Yamaha. “By signing Lorenzo and Rossi we have put together the strongest possible team,” said Lin Jarvis, Yamaha managing director. Rossi is currently eighth, while Lorenzo leads the 2012 MotoGP world championship after five victories in the first 10 completed races of the 18-race series.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2012.