Valentino Rossi marked an era in MotoGP and with Yamaha he experienced some of his best years and rivalries, including the legendary one with Jorge Lorenzo which led to the famous creation of a ‘wall’ between the two sides of the garage. Lin Jarvis, who recently said goodbye to the manufacturer, recalled precisely the hiring of the Spaniard.
Before talking about Lorenzo, Jarvis recalled, in comments to MotoGP World, how Rossi’s triumphant arrival quickly aroused some doubts due to the rider’s interest… in four wheels: ‘When Vale came, we won in 2004, then we won again in 2005, the first two years, but after 2005 Valentino was seriously thinking about going to Formula 1.’
And he continued: ‘So it was just rediscovering MotoGP for Yamaha, we had just won in year one and year two and then what would happen if he left? What would happen if he abandoned us?’
Jarvis then spoke specifically about the signing process with Lorenzo, and how the structure tried to protect itself against a possible Rossi departure: ‘We had to have the next driver who could win, we had to hire him and grow with him. And actually, Jorge started racing for us in 2008, but we already had a contract with him in 2006!’
And he justified it by the idea and the fear that Rossi would actually go to F1: ‘We hired him to be ready if and when Valentino went to Formula 1 and so we would have the next one, because we could see that Lorenzo was a killer.’
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