autoevolution
 

Yamaha to Field Only Four Bikes in 2016?

Even though we have only passed the middle of the current MotoGP season, some things start to precipitate when it comes to the 2016 championship. We might get to see Yamaha reducing its presence on the grid in 2016, retaining only the factory and the satellite bikes.
Valentino Rossi has fun launching the 2015 Movistar Yamaha bike 1 photo
Photo: Yamaha
Nobody mentioned this in an official matter, but reading between the lines tells us that Yamaha might not supply racing packages to customers next year. Lin Jarvis was the one to speak about Forward Racing in reserved terms that seem to indicate that the house of Iwata is no longer that interested to provide customers with frames and engines for the upcoming season.

According to gpone, the Yamaha top hat invoked a matter of deadlines for the potential failure to supply machinery to Forward Racing. He says that when dealing with the three tiers of bikes that are supposed to be prepared for a racing season, the customer ones are the first that must enter production, obviously, alongside with all the spare parts stocks.

Next in line come the satellite machines that go to Monster Yamaha Tech 3, while the factory-spec bikes for Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi are the last to enter production, all of the above with the corresponding deal of spares. Jarvis says that the deadline for closing the deal with Forward Racing is overdue, and the factory simply can't deliver the needed products.

What about the Tech 3 bikes used in 2015?

Surely, a normal question must be asked: what if the bikes Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro ride this year are "tuned" for customer specs and leased to Forward?

From a technical point of view, the bikes are produced already, and all the Japanese factory must do is supply Forward a batch of parts for them... as if the season would be longer, and more of them could become necessary. The customer YZR-M1 packages do come with notable differences from the factory machines, be they full-factory or factory-backed satellites, and this might introduce certain difficulties.

Yamaha only knows how hard it would be to manufacture the customer package, and they are not exactly talkative. On the other hand, the reticence in the House of Iwata is not at all hard to understand. The owner of their customer team, Giovanni Cuzari is still under arrest and investigated for financial frauds, and the team lost their title sponsor, subsequently missing the Indianapolis round.

Because Dorna wants to help Forward, they agreed to not hold missing a round against the team and allowed them to return at Brno. Forward managed to secure some funds despite having all the accounts frozen, and also found a replacement for their top rider Sefan Bradl, who called it quits.

Yet Forward Racing is far from being safe, with the highest hopes being to be able to finish the season. Yamaha knows this very well and is not willing to take unnecessary risks, hence all the reserves, precautions and somehow evasive declarations.

Time will tell what will become of Forward Racing. As for Yamaha, something tells us that Iwata was doing just well even without the money from leasing the two customer M1 bikes...
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