Despite the world title won with Fabio Quartararo, the last year was certainly not easy for the Yamaha. The Iwata manufacturer was forced to deal with countless inconveniences, testified by the endless swirl of different riders on the four M1s on the grid, between the official team and the satellite team. For the customer team, even more so, the problems were double, considering the farewell announced by the main sponsor – Petronas – who forced the team principal Razlan Razali to review its action plans for the future. The team will still be present on the grid next year under the name RNF WithU Yamaha. But the revolution will not be only in the name.
The former Petronas team had entered MotoGP in 2019 as a springboard for young talents. It is no coincidence that the couple chosen was the one made up of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo, a rookie – the Frenchman – and a rider only in his second year in the category – the Roman. Time proved Razali right, who came close to winning the world champion in 2020 and was then forced to see his jewels leave one after the other for the official team. The presence of Valentino Rossi first and Andrea Dovizioso then, on the other hand, suddenly transformed the Malaysian team into a team of veterans. The former Ducatista will be on track again next year, flanked by the young talent Darryn Binder, taken directly from Moto3.
Razali’s real dream, however, was to have the WSBK talent wear his suit Toprak Razgatlioglu, now one step away from winning his first world title in his career with the production derivatives. The manager of the Turk, Kenan Sofuoglu, wanted his client to win in Superbike before attempting the jump to MotoGP. “I like Toprak – said Razali, speaking to the German site Speedweek – at the same time, I respect and understand that he wants to achieve something before entering MotoGP. There have been some overlaps in the calendar between WSBK and MotoGP. That is why so far he has never been able to enter as a substitute. But I think if he had already become Superbike World Champion, he would have signed with us “, has explained.
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