{"id":476952,"date":"2026-02-13T08:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T08:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476952\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T08:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T08:42:14","slug":"motogp-news-valentino-rossi-speaks-out-on-phillip-island-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476952\/","title":{"rendered":"MotoGP news: Valentino Rossi speaks out on Phillip Island future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Valentino-Rossi-Bathurst.jpg\" alt=\"Valentino Rossi speaks out on Phillip Island future\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tValentino Rossi. Image: Richard Gresham <\/p>\n<p>The future of MotoGP at the iconic seaside circuit is in serious doubt, with the current contract between championship promoter Dorna and the Victorian Government up this year.<\/p>\n<p>Phillip Island owner Andrew Fox noted last month that<a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/motogp-news-australian-grand-prix-future-albert-park-dorna-sports-phillip-island-liberty-media\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Dorna is taking \u201ca new direction\u201d, with a report in The Age newspaper naming Albert Park as a possible alternative.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/motogp-news-south-australia-clarifies-interest-the-bend-motorsport-park-phillip-island-future\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The South Australian Government has thrown its hat in the ring<\/a>, most likely for a race at The Bend, while there\u2019s also the prospect of Australia missing out on a race entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Phillip Island has been home to Australia\u2019s annual MotoGP round since 1997, having also been the nation\u2019s inaugural event host from 1989-90.<\/p>\n<p>Rossi is an eight-time winner at the venue, with his six wins in the premier class including a 2001 thriller the resulted in the Italian clinching his first title.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a shame because Phillip Island is a piece of history of MotoGP,\u201d said Rossi when asked about the possibility of it losing the event.<\/p>\n<p>Limited edition Full Credit Papaya Rules &amp; Race Day Sunday merch drops now live! <a href=\"https:\/\/shop.fcttn.com\/?utm_source=speedcafe&amp;utm_medium=textlink&amp;utm_campaign=ad\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to shop.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI raced in Eastern Creek the first year and after \u201997, we moved to Phillip Island. It\u2019s a fantastic track, it\u2019s really special, and it\u2019s different than the other track.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can say that it\u2019s a little bit like Bathurst, so it\u2019s a great shame if they stop with Phillip Island.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhillip Island has a great charisma. It\u2019s a track that you never forget, so I hope that they continue in Phillip Island.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rossi retired from motorcycle racing at the end of 2021 before making the switch to four wheels.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s in Australia this week to contest the Bathurst 12 Hour, driving a Team WRT BMW alongside Augusto Farfus and Raffaele Marciello.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s Rossi\u2019s fourth consecutive appearance at the event, in which he finished second last year behind the sister WRT BMW entry.<\/p>\n<p><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/285241\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/285241.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valentino Rossi. Image: Richard Gresham The future of MotoGP at the iconic seaside circuit is in serious doubt,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,134245,9910,85,20420],"class_list":{"0":"post-476952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-phillip-island","15":"tag-slot2","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-valentino-rossi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}