After 14 seasons working together in the World Championship Valentino Rossi and his Crew Chief Jeremy Burgess will part ways following this weekend’s Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana.
The pair have enjoyed one of the most fruitful working relationships in the history of Grand Prix racing, having won seven world titles in the premier class together.
But with Rossi looking for fresh influences next year in the Yamaha Factory Racing team, having been unable to regularly challenge for victories this year, the Italian will have a new Crew Chief in 2014.
Rossi announced the decision in Thursday’s press conference at Valencia saying, “It’s not true that I’m unhappy with Jeremy’s work but it is true that next year he won’t be my Chief Mechanic. It was a very difficult decision for me because I have a great history with Jeremy. He is not just my Chief Mechanic. He is like part of my family. My father in racing.”
“But I’ve decided for next year I need to change something to try to find new motivation and to have a boost to improve my level, my speed. So this will be my last race together with Jeremy.”
The Doctor went on to add, "We spoke today, face to face. Next year will be crucial and I need new motivation. In the last few races I’ve felt I wanted to work in a different way. It was a difficult choice to make. Yamaha had asked me some time ago, but I decided recently."
"In my head there is the idea of trying something new now. I’ve always done that in my career. Next year I have to earn a renewal with Yamaha, so I'll have to be competitive. I still do not know who will be the new chief mechanic.”
