autoevolution
 

Jorge Lorenzo's Crew Will Not Follow Him at Ducati

It's off to a new start for Jorge Lorenzo at the post-race test in Valencia when he will ride a Desmosedici GP bike for the first time as an official Ducati factory pilot. Still, there's more than the motorcycle that will introduce the novelty factor - the entire team, save for one single man, will also be new.
Jorge Lorenzo still wearing the Yamaha livery until the end of he 2016 championship 3 photos
Photo: Yamaha
Jorge LorenzoJuan Llansa
That is, only one member of his current crew will follow the 2015 MotoGP World Champion from Yamaha at Ducati. The guy who will exchange the racing blue livery with the Ducati red one is Juan Llansa Hernandez, his trustworthy mechanic with whom Lorenzo worked from day one in Grand Prix racing.

Juan Llansa worked with Lorenzo from his debut in the 125cc class through Moto2 and MotoGP, and he said that he will follow the Mallorcan wherever he might go. And thinking that he is willing to leave from one of the best teams in MotoGP...

As we said, Llansa is the only Yamaha crew member who will follow Lorenzo at Ducati. The chief mechanic Ramon Forcada, alongside Wilco Zeelenberg, electronics specialist Davide Marelli and mechanics Javier Ullate, Ian Gilpin and Juri Pellegrini will all stay with Yamaha.

Forcada, who has been on Lorenzo's team since his arrival in the premier class in 2008, already said that he will take over the same role in Maverick Vinales' outfit.

Jorge Lorenzo managed to hide his disappointment and replied: "It is a choice that I respect, it is not that easy to leave a team such as Yamaha."

It's still a bit of a mystery how all the decisions were made because Spanish magazines also mention that the significant differences between the two motorcycles and the fact that Ducati was not too happy to lay off people also weighed a lot.

Either way, both Ducati and Lorenzo have a lot of work ahead, and until they set off on a new adventure together, we're curious to see who will be the new crew chief. It looks like the two names tipped for the position are those of Christian Gabarrini, who worked with Casey Stoner, and Daniele Romagnoli, currently working for Danilo Petrucci at Pramac Ducati.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories