• Birth date: 16/02/1979
• Birth place: Urbino, ITA
• First Grand Prix: 1996 MAL 125cc
• First Pole Position 1996 CZE 125cc
• First Race Fastest Lap 1996 FRA 125cc
• First Podium 1996 AUT 125cc
• First GP Victory 1996 CZE 125cc
• Grand Prix Starts 122
• 500cc/MotoGP Starts 62
• 250cc Starts 30
• 125cc Starts 30
• Grand Prix Victories 57
• 500cc/MotoGP Victories 31
• 250cc Victories 14
• 125cc Victories 12
• 2nd Placements 19
• 3rd placements 12
• Podium 88
• Pole Positions 26
• Race Fastest Lap 54
• World Championship Wins 5 - 1997 125cc - 1999 250cc - 2001 500cc - 2002 MotoGP - 2003 MotoGP
• Total Points 2138

In 1995 contests European Championships as official Aprilia rider, finishing the season in third place. Retains his Italian 125cc Championship crown.

GP CAREER

• 1996: World Championship debut at the 125cc Malaysian GP riding an Aprilia in Scuderia AGV. Final Championship position: 9th with 111 points - 1 victory: Czech Republic.
• 1997: Second youngest ever 125cc Champion riding an Aprilia for the Nastro Azzurro Team. Final Championship position: 1st with 321 points - 11 wins: Malaysia, Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands, Imola, Germany, Brazil, Great Britain, Catalunya and Indonesia.
• 1998: Moves up to 250cc class riding an Aprilia for the Nastro Azzurro Team. Final Championship position: 2nd with 201 points - 5 wins: Netherlands, Imola, Catalunya, Australia and Argentina.
• 1999: Becomes the youngest ever 250 World Champion riding for the Aprilia Grand Prix Racing. Final Championship position: 1st with 309 points - 9 wins: Spain, Italy, Catalunya, Great Britain, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, South Africa and Brazil.
• 2000: Moves up to the 500cc class riding a Honda for the Nastro Azzuro Team. Final Championship position: 2nd with 209 points - 2 wins: Great Britain and Brazil
• 2001: Takes the 500cc World Championship riding a Honda for the Nastro Azzuro Team. Final Championship position: 1st with 325 points. - 11 wins: Japan, South Africa, Spain, Catalunya, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Portugal, Pacific, Australia, Malaysia and Brazil.
• 2002: Wins revised format MotoGP World Championship riding all-new four stroke Honda RC211V for the Repsol Honda Team. Final Championship position: 1st with 355 points -11 wins: Japan, Spain, France, Catalunya, Italy, Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, Portugal, Brazil and Australia.
• 2003: Wins his second MotoGP World Championship for the Repsol Honda Team. Final Championship position: 1st with 307 points after 14 of 16 rounds. 7 wins so far: Japan, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Portugal, Rio and Malaysia.

Other Notes

• In 2001 Rossi became the youngest ever rider to win titles in three different classes. The only other two riders to win titles in three classes are Phil Read (125, 250, 500) and Mike Hailwood (250, 350, 500).
• Rossi was the fourth youngest rider ever to win the 500cc title after Freddie Spencer, Mike Hailwood and John Surtees.
• Rossi is the second rider ever to win the premier class title with a two-stroke and a four-stroke machine (2001 – Honda NSR500; 2002 – Honda RC211V). The first was Giacomo Agostini (1966 to 1972 – MV 500cc four-stroke; 1975 Yamaha 500cc two-stroke).
• Rossi is the eighth rider to have won three or more successive premier-class titles. He joins an illustrious list which also includes Geoff Duke, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey and Mick Doohan.

The road to the 2003 MotoGP World Championship

Valentino Rossi may only be 24 years old but the Italian superstar already rates as one of the greatest motorcycle racers in history. Young, sublimely talented and dazzlingly charismatic, Rossi seems to have it all. Over a mere six seasons he has swept through Grand Prix racing, winning the 125 World Championship in 1997, the 250 World Championship in '99 and the 500 World Championship last year. Last season he headed Honda's assault on the new-look MotoGP series, riding the spectacular Repsol Honda RC 211V, a 200 horsepower, 5 cylinder, four-stroke bike. This explosive combination has led the three leaders to a new World Championship title, the first of the MotoGP era, with four races left until the end of the season.

Son of seventies GP winner Graziano, who won three 250 GPs in 1979, the year of his birth, Rossi has spent pretty much all his life on motorcycles. He rode his first minibike at the age of just two and a half and spent the summers of his earliest years traveling the continent with his father and mother Stefania. Like most successful contemporary sportsmen Rossi found his chosen sport early in life, although he did begin competing on four wheels, racing go-karts. But the costs of getting serious on four wheels were too great for his family, so he soon switched his allegiance to two wheels, contesting his first minibike event in 1990. Commencing the theme of learning the first year and dominating the second, which he continued into 125, 250 and 500 GPs, Rossi was Italian minibike champion the following year.

At the age of 14 he moved on to bigger things, riding a Cagiva 125 street bike in the 1993 Italian Sport Production Championship. Once again, he won the title the following year and was quickly signed to ride Aprilia 125 GP machines in the '95 Italian and European Championships.

By now his phenomenal riding talent was attracting real notice as he dominated his national series and took third in his first Euro campaign. Rossi made his World Championship debut at the 1996 Malaysian GP and climbed his first podium a few months later. He won his first world round at that August's Czech GP. By now his sunny disposition and mop-head hairdo were making him a huge favorite with fans. GP racing is a serious business but Rossi can work as hard as anyone while apparently treating his job as a bit of a laugh. That perhaps is his secret, for he's always relaxed, always enjoying himself and always very, very fast.

Promoted to Aprilia's factory squad he was favorite to win the '97 125 crown. In fact Rossi totally dominated the frantically contested series, winning 11 of 15 rounds.

Next stop the '98 250 World Championship. Rossi was lightning quick from the outset on his Aprilia RSW250 but given to mistakes. After several tumbles he got his act together to take a clean sweep of the final four races to end up second overall. Nothing could stop him in '99 and after a steady start he went on to win nine of the last 14 races. Rossi demonstrated awesome riding talent, intelligent tactics and admirable consistency against his more experienced rivals, so once again it was time to look for another challenge.

He started his 500 career in the spring of 2000 the same way he'd started his 250 career - fast but flawed. Yet after tumbling out of the first two races he steadied himself and got quicker and quicker. After scoring his first 500 podium in Spain during April, he took his first 500 win in tricky damp conditions in Britain. More podium finishes at the next three races had him challenging Kenny Roberts for the series lead but a tumble at Valencia ended his title hopes. Another win in Brazil consolidated second in the championship.

Not surprisingly, Rossi went into 2001 as one of the favorites to win the last-ever 500 crown. He started the season in blazing style, winning the first three races to establish an impressive championship lead over his rivals. Halfway through the 16-round series he had already won five races but a tumble at May's rain-soaked Italian GP and a difficult ride to seventh at July's German GP allowed Max Biaggi to close to within ten points. Rossi responded to his arch-rival's pressure in brilliant style, winning six of the final seven races. He secured the World Championship with two races remaining and his season total of 11 wins gave him the highest percentage win rate of any modern-era 500 racer, just ahead of mentor Mick Doohan, the man who won five 500 crowns in the late nineties.

Then came the 2002 season, a season nobody will ever forget given the authority shown by the Italian star as well as by the Repsol Honda Team in the new MotoGP class. Valentino Rossi joined the Repsol Honda factory team as team mate of the Japanese Tohru Ukawa and made one of the most impressive seasons with regard to figures: 11 victories out of 15 races, 4 runner-ups, 9 fastest laps during races, 7 poles, 355 of 375 available points and 132 laps leading during races. These figures reaffirm with no doubt the superiority shown by Valentino Rossi along the 2002 season.

The 2003 season with the North American Nicky Hayden, in his MotoGP rookie year, as team mate in the Repsol Honda Team, turned out to be a bit complicated for the Italian rider. Valentino Rossi has stepped on the podium in each of the fourteen Grand Prix races held so far and, with two races left for the end of the season, he has already a record of seven victories, five runner-ups and two third places. This year, Rossi has taken the start 14 times, he has set seven poles, he has climbed the podium 13 times and he has set the fastest lap in ten of the fourteen races held so far. Until now, the Italian has scored 307 of the 375 available points, becoming World Champion for the fifth time, after the titles won in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2002.

Rossi's cavalier riding style - often likened to that of legendary '93 500 champ Kevin Schwantz - is only eclipsed by his off-track persona, which seems unaffected by his rise to bona fide superstar status. In Italy his fame has reached pop star proportions, forcing him to set up home in London.

He now spends much of his time in the English capital, where he indulges his passion for a fun-packed and hectic nightlife. But Rossi likes to keep his feet firmly on the ground, hanging out with mates he's known since kindergarten rather than working the celebrity circuit. He's a keen video games player, motocross rider and rally driver - he has already competed in a number of races with rally cars and may switch to the sport full-time if he ever tires of bikes.

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