ROME, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Italian motorcycling great
Valentino Rossi will leave Ducati at the end of the 2012 MotoGP
season and rejoin Yamaha on a two-year deal, the Japanese-owned
team said on Friday.
"In June, we were able to sign Jorge Lorenzo for the 2013-14
campaign and now we are able to confirm Valentino Rossi for the
next two years," Yamaha Motor Racing managing director Lin
Jarvis said in a statement.
The 33-year-old nine-times world champion - seven in the
highest class - first joined Yamaha in 2004 and won four MotoGP
titles with the manufacturer before agreeing a two-year deal
with Ducati at the end of the 2010 season.
Ducati said they were in the process of finalising their
2013 championship line-up having recently renewed their
agreement with American Nicky Hayden.
Spaniard Lorenzo, MotoGP champion in 2010, has ridden for
Yamaha since 2008 and leads the current championship by 23
points after 10 races. Rossi is down in eighth place, having
secured just one podium finish all season.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer and Amlan Chakraborty; Editing by
John O'Brien)