Yamaha Motor Racing or
Yamaha Factory Racing is the official factory team of
Yamaha in
MotoGP. It founded in 1999 following the retirement of
Wayne Rainey, who had run a factory-supported team in the 500 cc class for the previous two years. The team was originally based in the
Netherlands but was relocated in
Italy in 2002.
Max Biaggi and
Carlos Checa raced for the team from
1999 to
2002.
Max Biaggi achieved a total of 9 race wins in that period, first riding the
Yamaha YZR500 and later the
Yamaha YZR-M1 in
2002.
In
2003, Checa was joined by
Marco Melandri. The team had an average season with no wins or podiums.
For
2004 Valentino Rossi joined
Carlos Checa at the team. Rossi got 9 wins and won the championship.
Colin Edwards joined the team for
2005. Rossi once again won the championship, collecting 11 wins.
Both riders stayed with the team for
2006. Rossi earned 5 wins and finished 2nd in the championship.
For the
2007 season, both riders remained with the team riding the new 800cc
Yamaha YZR-M1. Rossi had 4 wins and finished the season 3rd overall.
For
2008, Yamaha had a unique line-up with......
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