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With MotoGP’s inception in 2002, Yamaha entered the 4-stroke 990cc YZR-M1 as its factory contender for the new era. Italian racer Massimiliano “Max” Biaggi took several podiums and won the Czech GP and Malaysian GP later that year. These 990cc 4-strokes were the standard until 2006 and over the course of those five years, a major turning point came for Yamaha in 2004.
In the third season of the new MotoGP class, reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi made a shock move to Yamaha from Honda. At the time, engineers offered him four engine combinations to test, using either the current 180° flatplane crankshaft or a 90° crossplane crankshaft and with either four or five valves per cylinder. Rossi chose the crossplane crankshaft with the 4-valve configuration, just as Yamaha’s engineers had predicted.
A new Yamaha champion. Valentino Rossi was not only a title contender. He also played a big role in the development of the YZR-M1
This moment marked the beginning of Yamaha’s journey to glory and firm presence at the front in the new MotoGP era. His talent for developing a bike as well as his skills in the saddle were instrumental in Yamaha winning back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005
In 2008, the Fiat Yamaha Team was composed of Rossi and class rookie Jorge Lorenzo, but the two riders used different tire brands, with the Italian running Bridgestones while the Spaniard was on Michelin rubber. Yamaha welcomed the challenge out of respect for the wishes of its riders, striving to offer them competitive machinery that exceeded their expectations, and took demonstrative steps to that end in the 2000s. Rossi clinched a second consecutive title with six victories while Lorenzo won four races of his own and finished as the championship runner-up, giving Yamaha and the YZR-M1 the top two spots for the season.
The 2008 YZR-M1 (0WS5) was one of Rossi's favourites. He took nine wins that season and brought Yamaha its second Triple Crown