“I have to thank him for his super effort and I hope, and I think it can happen, that we will see him in the future on the YZR-M1. »
This little sentence ofHervé Poncharal concerning Michael Van Der Mark (see here) intrigued us somewhat…
Indeed, as solid as the Dutch rider's performance was during the Malaysian Grand Prix, there is a priori little reason to see him again soon on a Yamaha MotoGP.
Certainly, the Yamaha official in Superbike has adapted very well to the category and its specificities which are Michelin tires, carbon brakes and electronics. From 3 seconds behind the best time on the first day, the gap was reduced to 2 seconds in FP3 and FP4, and could perhaps have been further reduced if, unfortunately, the Tech3 driver had not crashed during qualifying.
In the race, he finished close to the points, certainly almost 1 minute behind the winner, but nevertheless inserted between Cal Crutchlow et Andrea Iannone. A solid performance for a beginner but a priori not enough to open the doors to paradise!
And yet, Hervé Poncharal, who never speaks to say nothing, mentions the possibility of seeing him again on an M1…
Of course, materially, there is always the possibility that he will be present again during the Valencia Grand Prix if Jonas Folger is unable to recover his motorcycle. On this subject, we will obviously try to take stock of the situation in the coming days with the boss of the Tech3 team.
But beyond that, it seems that there is currently the idea of strengthening the European test teams to align with Ducati's policy on this subject, Ducati which employs very regularly and successfully Michele Pirro, whether to carry out private tests or wild cards, in order to rough up the work for its official drivers.
It is with this in mind, and after the difficulties encountered this year, that Yamaha could (conditionally) constitute a European test team (the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team is already based in Italy, near Monza), in parallel with the one already present in Japan with It lit up et Nozane. But what about the pilot?
Colin Edwards, the Yamaha test rider who particularly adapted the M1 to Michelin tires, is to this day still faster than Michel Van Der Mark, but his location in the United States, and his age, do not make him a rider easy to exploit on European circuits, especially since it is rumored that he would much prefer to do very short runs to long race simulations. As a result, the Texan would have already informed Iwata's men of his lack of interest in the project. At 43 years old and with time differences, we can understand it…
Hence the interest for Yamaha to find a driver who is sufficiently competitive and easily exploitable on European circuits, in order to make the most of the new regulations regarding private MotoGP testing.
Rumor has it that Yamaha had already asked Pirro himself if he was interested, before being refused, but could Michel Van Der Mark become this sort of “anti-Pirro”?
Only the future, or Hervé Poncharal, will be able to answer this question…
