It had been in the air for a while and especially since this summer break which only talked about the arrival of Alex Rins alongside Fabio Quartararo in place of Franco Morbidelli on the factory Yamaha . It's now official: Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd announces that its partnership with Franco Morbidelli will be discontinued at the end of 2023. The Italian-Brazilian will move on to new challenges in 2024.
Since Morbidely joined Yamaha en MotoGP in 2019, he achieved six podiums: three victories, one second and two third places. He also took two pole positions and was runner-up in the MotoGP world champion in 2020. After a short break due to a knee injury during the 2021 season, Morbido made his return to the San Marino GP as part of the Yamaha Factory Racing team. In total, he competed in 74 GPs as a driver Yamaha so far.
« Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., Yamaha Motor Racing and the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team are extremely grateful for Morbidelli's contributions, his unfailing motivation and his positive state of mind. They look forward to sharing more memorable moments during the remaining 12 MotoGP rounds of 2023 » announces the brand’s press release which adds: “ Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd wishes Morbidelli the best in his future racing endeavors and reconfirms the full support of the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team for the remainder of the season to end their partnership in style ».
Lin Jarvis: “ it's a shame that the last two years with Franco Morbidelli did not go as we wanted and hoped »
The General Manager, Yamaha Motor Racing Lynn Jarvis clarified: “ first of all I would like to thank Franky for his hard work and dedication since he started with the factory team and also way before that, when he was a Satellite rider for Yamaha. The Yamaha and Morbidelli partnership has led to excellent results, including an outstanding runner-up title in 2020 ».
« It's a shame that the last two years did not go as we wanted and hoped. We discussed the possibilities of continuing our partnership, but ultimately we decided that 2024 would be the time to change things, both for Yamaha and for Franky ».
« The team will continue to fully support Franky in every way possible to close out our time together in the best possible way » he finishes.
