Blaž Štremfelj
"Yamaha is celebrating the 60th anniversary of World Championship racing this year," said the team boss, Lynn Jarvis. “We started in 1961, five or six years after our company was formed. We remain loyal to MotoGP racing and road racing in general. We have signed a contract with Dorna, which is valid from 2022 to 2026, thus showing our intentions. ”
Although the signing of the agreement with Dorna was expected, it is a little less clear with which team Yamaha will work in the future. They were with the satellite team last year Petronas SRT achieved historically first victory non-factory team, but they have a cooperation agreement with the Malaysian team only until the end of this season.
The sequel is the most logical move, but it interferes with the story Valentino Rossi with his team VR46, which is expected to enter MotoGP in 2022. Jarvis due to the close ties between Yamaha and Rossi, expects the Italian team VR46 to be one of the candidates to become Yamaha semi-factory team.
"We had a three-year contract with the Petronas team, which expires at the end of this season," he explained Jarvis. “This season, they will start negotiations with semi-factory teams. I don’t just expect a Yamaha in the negotiations, as it is rumored that Aprilia will be racing with its factory team. And then there's Suzuki, who could think of a satellite team. The question is also whether Ducati will continue to have two semi-factory teams and what will Honda do? KTM is currently the only one to have this issue resolved through close collaboration with the Tech3 team.
On our side, Petronas Yamaha, from the beginning two seasons ago, did very well. They won six races last year and their racer became a runner-up, just a testament to their abilities.
Will VR46 enter MotoGP? As far as I know, they have this option, which is only available for a limited time and I think they are seriously interested in entering. So Yamaha will have to negotiate with all the candidates, so definitely with the Petronas and VR46 team, if they come to MotoGP, because of our long relationship with Valentin, ” he said Jarvis, who added that negotiations have not yet begun. “For now, there are no inquiries or offers on the table. It will start in April or May. ”
