According to the French official, both riders will have their contracts renegotiated at the end of 2009 based on their performances this season. Both riders have only one year of contract remaining with the team and their deals will not be renewed should they fail to improve their overall rankings as compared to 2008.
“Nothing goes on forever in life, especially in sport and in MotoGP. Both James and Colin are now on one year contracts. Colin was due to leave MotoGP at the end of 2008 but because of the great season he had he managed to get one more year and maybe he is going to be even better in 2009 and will therefore still be with us in 2010. That is what I hope,” said Poncharal.
“James has been discovering MotoGP and has had to overcome a lot of problems, learning new tracks, getting used to a new bike and a new format of racing. He did really well when you have all that in mind. But clearly both of them are under a lot of pressure to perform, like we are and like everybody is in MotoGP.”
“We are expecting from Colin that he will continue at the level he is and maybe be even better. We are expecting a major improvement from James and I think he is capable of it. I can't see why we won´t get the results we are looking for, but of course we also know that there are some young riders knocking at the MotoGP door and our riders know that too. Our riders understand that we need to get podiums,” he added.
Edwards finished last season as the 7th best rider in the series, making two podium appearances throughout 2008 at Assen and Le Mans. Toseland, on the other hand, finished last year just outside the overall Top 10 (11th place), highlighting six 6th places throughout his debut season in the MotoGP.
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