This is a recurrence of this 2018 season and it raises questions at Yamaha. The fact is that at the start of the campaign, the honor of the Iwata factory is firstly defended by the Tech3 team and its driver Johann zarco. The official troops continue to struggle with their difficulties which appeared a year ago now and which persist, despite the clear expertise of their pilots who are Valentino Rossi et Maverick Vinales. What does on-field tuning fork boss Lin Jarvis think of this situation? Not much, but it annoys him...
The proof with this interview at Speedweek. He explains : " we only did four races. But the results say a lot about the quality of the bike that we put at the disposal of the Tech3 team. We had a lot of problems with the new chassis last year and we reverted to the one from 2016 ».
He pursues : " the first races of 2017 went well. We won three of the first four Grands Prix. Overall, our official team won four races and Tech3 none. Viñales finished third in the championship which was not the case for Zarco. You should not judge on a single race, but on the entire season ».
He finishes : " This season, Zarco has the same chassis as our drivers. It has the latest aerodynamic developments, it has the same engine. It's more or less the same bike. The difference is that a final development is first applied to us before Tech3 benefits from it. It's easier when you have to focus on fewer things and Zarco has a competitive bike ". And in 2019, Yamaha will have lost a competitive team and a rider who is no less competitive.
