Yamaha Racing boss Lin Jarvis has said that negotiations to bring Valentino Rossi back into his team alongside Jorge Lorenzo started in July and were instigated by the Italian, not the factory.
The Doctor made his approach after becoming disillusioned with Ducati's lack of progress with the GP12 and the fact he had no assurances he would be on a competitive bike come the start of next season. The Yamaha deal means he will get the same machinery as Jorge Lorenzo, starting at the Valencia test.
"The reason to have Valentino back is the seven years of excellent history we had together. We had Valentino with us for seven years, we won four world titles together and we made a great history in the sport and also a lot of positive publicity for Yamaha together," said Jarvis.
"So finally, the reason for having Valentino back is to come back to the good times. The divorce, I'd like to say, was not in my opinion a bad divorce. Of course, any separation has its issues, but we have remained on good terms as Yamaha with Valentino since."
"I would say there had been some discussions in the background for some time and the real negotiation probably began in July.
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