It was during the press conference held before the Thai Grand Prix at the Chang circuit in Buriram that Valentino Rossi confirmed the rumor of the replacement at the end of the season of his current team leader, Silvano Galbusera.
The lucky person's name is David Munoz Torras (41 years old) and is currently part of the SKY VR46 team alongside Nicolò Bulega.
The latest change of team leader Valentino Rossi took place at the end of 2014, with the departure of the famous Jeremy Burgess.
Valentino Rossi : " Yes, it's true ! I will change chief engineer next year. It was good and we spoke together with Silvano after the race in Misano, because we want to try to do something to be stronger. Different factors came together because Silvano also wanted to continue working for Yamaha, but he also wanted to try something with a little less stress and with fewer days outside Italy. At the same time, Yamaha wanted to make the Test Team stronger next year, to advance the work in Europe. So, honestly, at first I didn't expect it, but talking together we decided to change. So Silvano will go to the Test Team next year and I will have another chief mechanic who comes from our Moto2 team and who will be David (Muñoz). Last year he worked with Pecco (Bagnaia) and he won the championship. This year he is with Bulega. So I'm excited because it's a new experience. He has no experience in MotoGP but he is very young and he has very good ideas. And in the end, everyone is happy, and even Silvano is happy to go to the Test Team. So we try and we will see if we become stronger. »
Why did you choose David Muñoz specifically?
“Unfortunately, it seems like we were a bit stuck, together with Silvano and Yamaha, in understanding the direction to progress. Honestly, it's the first name because I know him very well, I follow the team very well and he did a very good job last year with Pecco. I like the way he handled the end of the season, when there was a lot of pressure and Pecco was a little nervous being afraid of losing the championship to Oliveira. I like his calmness and the way he handled the situation. So I asked him, and unfortunately it's something negative for our team (Moto2) because he was very important there. But we decided to give it a try and we'll see. »
