Wilco Zeelenberg and the manager of an RNF team which will push him to separate from his favorite brand, Yamaha. The boss Razlan Razali has in fact chosen a new path with a manufacturer Aprilia which offered him better prospects on the theme of a medium-term partnership. While Lin Jarvis stuck to the traditional one-year customer contract for the brand with tuning forks... The new machines and the new adventure will be joined by new drivers. Like in the days of Petronas? The Dutchman doesn't believe it, because among today's next generation, we find, he says, no other Fabio Quartararo...
Wilco Zeelenberg experienced the beginnings of fabio quartararo thanks to the Petronas team which gave him the opportunity to move into MotoGP. The Frenchman then appeared as the unkept promise since a failure in Moto3 where he had landed with the label of replacement of Marc Marquez. A disappointment which did not prevent him from heading towards Moto2 where he showed that he had lost none of his qualities by winning two victories for SpeedUp, one of which was canceled on the green carpet. A mixed result which did not discourage Razlan Razali and his men, a choice which then turned out to be the big move of the moment which Yamaha welcomes today.
Wilco Zeelenberg can he relive the same adventure with today's next generation on Aprilia ? his answer is clear and it is negative, for lack of the same prodigy in the workforce… “ There are no new Fabio Quartararo » he said on motorsport.total. And he specifies: “ if you look at the new generation of MotoGP riders, they are at most 25 years old. Pecco' Bagnaia is only the new generation at 25 years old. Drivers like Rins or Oliveira are 27 years old or older. These guys have lived a little longer. They are young people, but they are 27 years old. I think if you are over 25 today, you are part of the older generation ».
Wilco Zeelenberg: “ there are not many Fabio, Jorge, Valentino or Marc«
« Fabio was very young at 19, but he had a completely different career before that », remembers Zeelenberg. " He was very fast when he was young. There's nothing like this anymore ". And he ends: “ there aren't many Fabio, Jorge, Valentino or Marc. It takes time to find a gem like this. I've been lucky enough to work with people like that a few times, but you don't find that by snapping your fingers. There is a process that precedes and it is very important ».
Certainly, but it will still be necessary to find two drivers in 2023 for the RNF Aprilia team. Miguel Oliveira is well on his way to being the first rider to bring his KTM experience and his record of four MotoGP victories. For his cubicle neighbor, Raul fernandez is cited, and he is identified as a member of this famous succession. However, he is apparently chained in a dark room in Mattighofen… Wilco Zeelenberg indeed comments: “ At the moment we cannot make anything public. There are reasons that will be discovered later ».
« It's not that we want to keep it a secret, but there are things going on behind the scenes that we're not able to announce. We don't want to say anything crazy at this point because it wouldn't help us », concludes the head of the RNF team who alludes to the penalty that will have to be paid Raul fernandez if he wants to leave the brand that brought him this far in his career: KTM.
