Team Moto2 collaboration of Yamaha Motor Co, Ltd and VR46 is ready to start the new season in its iconic blue and yellow colors. The team's third year of competition began in Portimão, for two days of private testing in unstable rainy weather. The team will present its new line-up during the official winter test in Jerez de la Frontera, starting on Wednesday 28, and just a week before the first GP race, which will take place on the weekend of March 8-10 in Qatar.
But does it really foreshadow the arrival of the Yamaha satellites to the VR46 in MotoGP?
The team is proud to carry the Yamaha name and once again promote the Master Camp event, as a liaison between Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. and VR46. It is entirely financed by Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., while VR46 is responsible for managing the team. The team can also count on the support of Yamaha Motor Europe NV. The new color palette, with Yamaha's iconic blue and VR46's unique neon yellow, could actually end up in MotoGP in the years to come.
In addition to the urgent need for a satellite team to strengthen the official Iwata team in the premier Grand Prix category, there would be a certain logic to completing the pyramid set up by Yamaha.
Tetsu Ono, Managing Director – Motorsports Strategy Division Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. : “The Yamaha and VR46 Master Camp project continues to grow. It all started with the training weeks held once or twice a year to help nurture future talent at Yamaha. Based on this, we created the CEV Moto3 Junior team which moved to the CEV Moto2 class in 2019. Then, in 2022, we began the biggest challenge yet: competing at World Championship level. We are proud that the Moto2 team was able to record strong results and a podium finish in its first two years of existence. These results and the professionalism of the team did not go unnoticed by fans and the media. We are grateful for the warm reactions and encouragement we have received over the past few seasons. Today, we are raising our expectations even further. »
How far, and how fast?
Discussions have already been underway for several months, and Yamaha's wish is beyond doubt. The reasons for this are multiple, both technical-sporting and financial, since the promoter Dorna Sports finances each manufacturer with a satellite team to the tune of 3 million euros. Yamaha is therefore currently the only one not to have this financial windfall which would be added to the very advantageous conditions presented by Iwata for the team of Valentino Rossi, even though he is currently just a regular customer for Ducati. And we know the business acumen of the man from Tavullia…
He must therefore choose between the siren song of Yamaha and an assurance of competitiveness presented by Ducati. The paddock is convinced that the business is on track, or even more, for Yamaha, ready to do a lot to seduce the Italian, especially as Lynn Jarvis There would also be family interests.
But the nine-time transalpine champion is clever and raises the stakes, declaring Paul Grandson et Alessio “Uccio” Salucci, that its number 1 choice remains Ducati, also hoping to recover factory Desmosedici if the deal is not concluded with the Japanese firm, winning on all counts.
The contract between the VR46 and Ducati ending at the end of 2024, the coming weeks will undoubtedly bring us new elements, just like the performances of the YZR-M1s of fabio quartararo et alex rins will be carefully scrutinized from a famous Italian hill…
While waiting for additional clues, the Moto2 team Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, whose sporting director is Gelete Nieto, continues its program with two new drivers, replacing Manuel Gonzalez and Kohta Nozane.
Tetsu Ono: “We have a new team of drivers. On one side of the garage, we welcome Ayumu Sasaki, the Japanese standard bearer, who after 7 years in Moto3 is ready to take on a new challenge in Moto2. On the other side we have Jeremy Alcoba, who already has two years of experience in the intermediate class. The drivers and the team itself are hungry for big results for the 2024 campaign, and we are ready to demonstrate our worth. »
