Valentino Rossi hints at racing in MotoGP beyond 2020

Published April 25, 2020
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Valentino Rossi looks set to compete in MotoGP in 2021 after dropping a hint on his future during an interview with teammate Maverick Vinales and a MotoGP commentator

Love him or hate him, worship at the altar of his flourescent number 46 or decry him as a detriment to MotoGP's long term popularity; you just cannot deny the fact that Valentino Rossi's presence on the MotoGP grid draws attention.

And in a hint that came straight from the horse's mouth itself, it seems all but certain that Rossi will line up on the grid in 2021 and that it will most likely be with the Petronas Yamaha SRT team that runs as a satellite team to the factory Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team.

In an interview with MotoGP commentator Matt Birt, along with Vinales, Rossi stated that he would not want to end his career right after being shown the door by Yamaha with whom he has raced since 2004 (except for 2011 and 2012).

Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo, who pushed MotoGP's reigning alpha dog Marc Marquez to his limits last year, are already confirmed as riders for the Yamaha MotoGP team. Quartararo had already been given access to the same specification Yamaha YZR M1 as Rossi and Vinales this year. Fans - biased and neutral alike - and the media were salivating at the thought of the 21-year-old Frenchman really pushing the reigning six-time premier class champion all-year long. Rossi fans were hoping to see the number 20 bike rider win the title, if Rossi couldn't manage to do so.

As it turned out, everyone got beaten by a pandemic of global proportions that literally brought the world to a standstill. With the exception of the Moto2 and Moto3 classes racing in Qatar - as they had reached before travel restricitons stopped the entry of premier class teams - the only news coming out of MotoGP has been cancellation and postponment of rounds.

At the time of writing, just 12 of the original 20 rounds of the MotoGP season remain on the calendar with the Czech GP on the 7-9 August weekend scheduled as the opening round of the season.

So whether or not any races happen this year - and provided no one follows the advice or example of heads of state who ask citizens to drink bleach - MotoGP fans are assured of some light at the end of the tunnel.