Valentino Rossi Regrets Never Racing In Mandalika

Valentino Rossi regrets that he has never tasted the Mandalika Circuit in his brilliant career (doc. Pertamina Lubricants).

JAKARTA - Valentino Rossi expressed his appreciation because he had never experienced a race at the Mandalika International Circuit, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

The former racer, who is an Italian living legend, decided to retire at the end of 2021 or just months before the Mandalika Circuit debuted for the MotoGP race.

"It's a shame when MotoGP started racing in Lombok, it was my first year retiring. So, this is a shame," Rossi said at a press conference in Jakarta.

Rossi actually had experience racing in Indonesia, but that was when MotoGP was still held in Sentul, Bogor, West Java, in 1996-1997. That was the beginning of the driver's career nicknamed The Doctor.

He said that having a lot of fans in Indonesia loyal to miss the Mandalika race was a regret in his career.

"Because when I raced with Yamaha and we went to Jakarta several times, I saw people who went crazy for me. This made me very proud," he said.

Rossi has a total of nine world titles in the Grand Prix arena. Of these, seven of them got from the competition in the MotoGP racing event.

This year's Mandalika Circuit race will take place on October 3-5, 2025. This is the 18th series race in this year's racing calendar.

Rossi is certain to be there to accompany his team Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team. The squad will race across with a new lifestyle that has just been launched in Jakarta.