Italian motorcycling ace Valentino Rossi is happy with his Yamaha bike and team and is ready to renew his contract, the seven-time world champion told the press.
''We'll start talks soon about extending my contract by one or two years. I want to stay on because I feel I can still vie for the title,'' the Yamaha rider told the French sports daily L'Equipe.
Rossi won Sunday's French Grand Prix, his second victory in a row, and climbed back to the top of the standings for the first time since the start of the 2006 season.
Since winning his last title in 2005, Rossi has been renewing his contract with Yamaha on a year-by-year basis.
Rossi, who with 90 Grand Prix victories is the second biggest winning rider after Giacomo Agostini, explained that he was able to return to his winning ways because ''I've changed my lifestyle''.
''I've moved back to Italy and I've been able to strike a positive balance between my private and the concentration and effort needed to race. I feel better and this makes everything easier,'' he explained.
The 29-year-old rider officially moved back to Italy this year after negotiating an agreement with Italian tax authorities to pay some 35 million euros in back taxes.
He had moved to London in 2000 to to take advantage of favourable tax conditions there, such as only declaring earnings made in Britain and avoiding taxes on his lucrative merchandising and sponsorship contracts.
In an interview to appear in Friday's edition of the Panorama First monthly, Rossi said ''I made a decision which in a way bucked the trend and the price was very high. But after so many years living abroad I wanted to come home. I'm almost 30 and I needed to get back to my roots''.
''In the end I took a load off my chest. I had wanted to do this earlier but had been advised, wrongly, against it. It was something I had to do because I wasn't happy with my life,'' he added.
Looking at his chances of winning this year's MotoGP championship, which would be his sixth title in the motorcycling premier class and make him second only to Agostini who has eight, Rossi was upbeat but also realistic.
''For sure my rivals this year are fast and younger than I am. And I no longer have the edge I used to have. But if I concentrate and give it all I've got, then they won't be faster than I am,'' he told Panorama First.
''Gone are the days when I could win ten races a season. But I'm still a contender for the championship,'' he added.
''I race and have always raced to win. When the day comes that I realise I can't do this anymore, I'll do something else. I've won seven world titles, so I don't have to prove anything to anyone,'' Rossi concluded.
