Yamaha is desperately looking for its satellite team... Jorge Viegas, the president of the FIM renewed for four years with a great score, hit the headlines last weekend by affirming that he had sources allowing him to say that in 2024, the VR46 would ride with Yamahas far from their former glory, instead of their Ducati which is the bike of the moment... The denial of Valentino Rossi's men was not long in coming, even questioning the maneuver . However, Lin Jarvis' mission remains to be honored: 2023 must be the one and only season in MotoGP that Yamaha will do with its only two official machines. And if you look closely, he only has one card to play in order not to reproduce the scenario in 2024...
Japanese manufacturers are no longer popular, even with MotoGP teams, who, not so long ago, dreamed of being part of their history. As for Yamaha, Razlan Razali didn't think twice when he got assurance fromAprilia to have RS-GPs at the last stage of their evolution for two seasons, with involvement in development. Lynn Jarvis only offered him an annual lease with customer status. Like always. But the situation has changed and the Malaysian handed over the keys to his M1.
First of all, fabio quartararo didn't find it very serious, but then we saw Lin Jarvis take up his pilgrim's staff to rectify the situation from 2024. The Englishman thus reminded his compatriots of his position crash.net : " we plan to return with a satellite team as soon as possible. Next year, it certainly won't be an advantage to only have two motorcycles! » And he explains why: “ Ducati certainly collects a lot of data. They not only have eight bikes, but they have five or six very fast riders. They're all fast, but they have five or six that are really exceptional. With all this availability of data, they can try each tire during the meeting, they can consider everything and then they can evaluate it. It’s definitely an advantage. ».
"Yamaha ne veut pas avoir huit motos car c’est autant un avantage qu’un fardeau"
On this point, Carmelo Ezpeleta intervened by clarifying this situation of the eight motorcycles, thus reminding those who regret this significant number of their duties: “ it's like when MotoGP was the reign of Rossi or Marquez. They have the same regulations and the same possibilities, let the other manufacturers move. There are eight Ducatis because the private teams, which are very important, have found better deals elsewhere. On other occasions we had eight Hondas and eight Yamahas ».
In echo, Lynn Jarvis developed : “We don't want to have eight motorcycles because that's also a burden. It's a benefit, but it's also a burden to continue to support eight machines. So our assessment is that four really is the optimal number and it's a shame that next year we won't have four. But I hope that as soon as possible in the future we will come back with a satellite team ».
Since the VR46 logically confirmed its intention to honor its contract with Ducati which runs until 2024, Lynn Jarvis must look elsewhere. And there is only one team in MotoGP that must think about after 2023. It is Gresini… “ Our agreement with Ducati covers 2022 and 2023 ", said Carlo Merlini from the Gresini team. “ Our 2024 plans are still under discussion ". With the passage of bastianini in the official Ducati team, Alex Marquez will ride alongside Fabio di Giannantonio at Gresini in 2023. Two drivers who would not jump for joy at the announcement of joining the fold of the tuning fork brand. Moreover, their contract also ends at the end of 2023… Gresini has been in its history a satellite team Honda, a logistics base Aprilia and now a customer Ducati.
