2024 silly season!

So, some developments. I did think some time ago that if LCR lose Rins (now almost a certainty), then KTM could loan Augusto Fernandez to LCR. That is now being rumoured...poor .......

Augusto Fernandez to LCR, Pedro Acosta to GASGAS rumoured

Morbidelli has been offered a Yamaha WSBK ride, but wants to stay in GP

Yamaha throw Franco Morbidelli a lifeline - but the clock is ticking…

Looks like Alex Rins is all but confirmed at Yamaha. The only thing now stopping him is signing the contract, which he hasn't been able to do because he's still in a wheelchair.

“Agreement found” between Alex Rins and Yamaha - but one hurdle to go

Finally, it looks like Bezzechi is getting a higher salary and a factory (or close to factory) bike for 2024

Valentino Rossi and Marco Bezzecchi get their wish; Ducati agree to key request

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announces that Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP and Franco Morbidelli will go their separate ways after the 2023 MotoGP season.
Silverstone (UK), 2nd August 2023
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announces that its partnership with Franco Morbidelli will be discontinued at the end of 2023 when Morbidelli will move on to new racing challenges.

Since Morbidelli joined Yamaha in 2019, the Italian achieved six podiums: three victories, one second, and two third places. He also claimed two pole positions and was MotoGP Vice World Champion in 2020. After a short break due to a knee injury during the 2021 season, Morbido made a comeback at the San Marino GP as part of the Yamaha Factory Racing Team. In total he contested 74 GPs as a Yamaha rider so far.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., Yamaha Motor Racing, and the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team are extremely grateful for Morbidelli’s contributions, never-diminishing motivation, and his positive mindset. They look forward to sharing more memorable moments during the remaining 12 MotoGP rounds of 2023.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. wishes Morbidelli the very best in his future racing endeavours and reconfirms Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team’s full support for him for the remainder of the season to end their partnership on a high note.

Lin Jarvis
LIN JARVIS
Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Racing
“First and foremost, I want to thank Franky for his hard work and dedication ever since he started with the Factory Team and also long before that when he was a Satellite rider for Yamaha. The Yamaha and Morbidelli partnership led to some great results, including an outstanding vice-champion title in 2020.

“It’s a shame that the last two years didn’t play out the way we both wanted and hoped for. We discussed the possibilities to continue our partnership, but ultimately we decided that 2024 would be a moment to make a change, both for Yamaha and for Franky.

“The team will proceed to fully support Franky in every way we can to close out our time spent together in the best possible way.”

Assumption is that Rins will take the Yamaha seat

Where will Morbidelli end up?

That was quick.

mikesbytes said:

Assumption is that Rins will take the Yamaha seat

Where will Morbidelli end up?

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The vastly experienced Spaniard has many premier-class and lower-class race victories (6x MotoGP™, 4x Moto2™, 8x Moto3™, 18 in total) and podiums (18x MotoGP™, 17x Moto2™, 23x Moto3™, 58 in total) to his name. His vast experience and undeniable talent make him a fully qualified and welcome addition to the Yamaha rider line-up.

Following Rins’ leg injury sustained in the 2023 Italian GP Sprint, MotoGP™ fans the world over eagerly anticipate his return to action. He underwent two surgeries and is working hard on making a full recovery.

Lin Jarvis, Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Racing: “We are delighted that Alex is joining the Yamaha line-up, and we warmly welcome him to the Yamaha MotoGP group.

“We expect Alex to be a great asset. He has vast experience as a MotoGP rider and is known to be a natural talent and a multi-time MotoGP class race winner. He already has experience with two other MotoGP manufacturers and has ridden bikes with similar characteristics to the YZR-M1, which should help him adapt quickly to our bike. His win in COTA earlier this year underlines his speed, hunger, and determination to succeed.

“Alex has been away from the MotoGP paddock for a while due to the injury he sustained at Mugello, but we are confident that he should be fully recovered and up to speed for the 2024 season. We are really looking forward to working with him and believe that he will collaborate well with Fabio and enhance the total performance of the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team.”

You know, I find the whole thing ironic. A leg injury derailed Franco's career and it took him 2 years to regain some form. And now Rins is the one coming back from another leg injury. I hope Yamaha isn't making another mistake here and Rins recovers form quickly.

MotoGP is back! This weekend sees the ninth round of this year’s series take place at the former military airfield at Silverstone as part of the British Grand Prix. And as the road motorcycle world championship circus makes its debut after an extremely long six-week break, it’s not a bad idea to recap the highlights of the previous eight events so far.
A summer look back at the MotoGP season or How Ducati is (not) emulating Red Bull in F1 so far

Martin Hare said:

MotoGP is back! This weekend sees the ninth round of this year’s series take place at the former military airfield at Silverstone as part of the British Grand Prix. And as the road motorcycle world championship circus makes its debut after an extremely long six-week break, it’s not a bad idea to recap the highlights of the previous eight events so far.
A summer look back at the MotoGP season or How Ducati is (not) emulating Red Bull in F1 so far

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First one who dares click the link wins a virus.

MdubSTYLIE said:

První, kdo se odváží kliknout na odkaz, vyhrává virus.

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No, we´re a new sport web, where we´re writing about moto sport too...

Martin Hare said:

No, we´re a new sport web, where we´re writing about moto sport too...

Click to expand...

This thread is about riders and possible team changes so I questioned if you were a bot. You should repost tis in the Silverstone race thread if you want views. Welcome and good luck on the new site.

Rumours are hotting up that VR46 are going to grease the wheels for Morbidelli to go to Gresini. If so, that will piss me off. I'm fed up of over the hill sportsmen taking good seats/rides away from up and coming talent in Moto2.

Yamaha join KTM in seeking a new satellite team

Yamaha are officially in the hunt for a new satellite team too. The problem is, who is going to want them? All other satellites, except LCR, are on better bikes.

MichaelBolton said:

You know, I find the whole thing ironic. A leg injury derailed Franco's career and it took him 2 years to regain some form. And now Rins is the one coming back from another leg injury. I hope Yamaha isn't making another mistake here and Rins recovers form quickly.

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I hope it's the right move for both Alex and Yamaha. Leaving Honda after just five races says a lot about the state they're in right now.
Franco hasn't been far from Fabio this year but if he joins Gresini he is likely gonna fall upwards .

#22 said:

Yamaha join KTM in seeking a new satellite team

Yamaha are officially in the hunt for a new satellite team too. The problem is, who is going to want them? All other satellites, except LCR, are on better bikes.

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Maybe pampers would sponsor a new team. The ...... pampers yamaha has a ring to it.

#22 said:

Rumours are hotting up that VR46 are going to grease the wheels for Morbidelli to go to Gresini. If so, that will piss me off. I'm fed up of over the hill sportsmen taking good seats/rides away from up and coming talent in Moto2.

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What the .... even is that? Is Rossbag going to sit in their pit for a race weekend which will guarantee an extra 45 minutes of camera time? Or is Uccio going to give them one of his famous reach arounds?

MdubSTYLIE said:

What the .... even is that? Is Rossbag going to sit in their pit for a race weekend which will guarantee an extra 45 minutes of camera time? Or is Uccio going to give them one of his famous reach arounds?

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I'm guessing they'd get financial benefit from it but to me, Morbidelli has had his chance. He had 2 yrs on a factory Yamaha to outpace Fabio and hasn't, not even close. He had his time in 2020 but be it injury or not liking the factory bike, he's not the same man as he was and is firmly a WSBK rider now. He does not deserve a seat in GP at the expense of someone like Arbolino. The only way I see him staying is if Bezzechi goes to Pramac, which is very unlikely now.

Christ, a younger VR46 rider has won the title now, so Franco is old news.

#22 said:

I'm guessing they'd get financial benefit from it but to me, Morbidelli has had his chance. He had 2 yrs on a factory Yamaha to outpace Fabio and hasn't, not even close. He had his time in 2020 but be it injury or not liking the factory bike, he's not the same man as he was and is firmly a WSBK rider now. He does not deserve a seat in GP at the expense of someone like Arbolino. The only way I see him staying is if Bezzechi goes to Pramac, which is very unlikely now.

Christ, a younger VR46 rider has won the title now, so Franco is old news.

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totally agree

#22 said:

Yamaha join KTM in seeking a new satellite team

Yamaha are officially in the hunt for a new satellite team too. The problem is, who is going to want them? All other satellites, except LCR, are on better bikes.

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I'm thinking the testing rules should be tweaked to run along the lines of the bike, for example a manufacturer with only 2 bikes gets 50% more testing for those 2 bikes, ie 75% of the testing of a manufacturer with 4 bikes. Anyway whatever formula could be figured out.

#22 said:

I'm guessing they'd get financial benefit from it but to me, Morbidelli has had his chance. He had 2 yrs on a factory Yamaha to outpace Fabio and hasn't, not even close. He had his time in 2020 but be it injury or not liking the factory bike, he's not the same man as he was and is firmly a WSBK rider now. He does not deserve a seat in GP at the expense of someone like Arbolino. The only way I see him staying is if Bezzechi goes to Pramac, which is very unlikely now.

Christ, a younger VR46 rider has won the title now, so Franco is old news.

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I'd like to see Morbidelli go to WSBK to be on the Yamaha and hopefully give Bautista a hard time

In regards to next years rider lineup, it looks like there will be only 1 or 2 riders gone, perhaps 1 rider from WSBK and only 1 rider from Moto2. The big silly season will be next year

mikesbytes said:

I'm thinking the testing rules should be tweaked to run along the lines of the bike, for example a manufacturer with only 2 bikes gets 50% more testing for those 2 bikes, ie 75% of the testing of a manufacturer with 4 bikes. Anyway whatever formula could be figured out.

I'd like to see Morbidelli go to WSBK to be on the Yamaha and hopefully give Bautista a hard time

In regards to next years rider lineup, it looks like there will be only 1 or 2 riders gone, perhaps 1 rider from WSBK and only 1 rider from Moto2. The big silly season will be next year

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Morbidelli is not going to give him any more trouble than Toprak does. No one is going to beat someone in a child's body on that Ducati.

mikesbytes said:

I'm thinking the testing rules should be tweaked to run along the lines of the bike, for example a manufacturer with only 2 bikes gets 50% more testing for those 2 bikes, ie 75% of the testing of a manufacturer with 4 bikes. Anyway whatever formula could be figured out.

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I like that idea. I think some of the issue though is, as has been shown, test riders/test teams are never going to give as good a feedback as riders on a race weekend. If the factory riders were allowed to test, it would be better.

mikesbytes said:

I'd like to see Morbidelli go to WSBK to be on the Yamaha and hopefully give Bautista a hard time

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Agreed, the talk seems to be steering towards him getting a GP Ducati. Either at Gresini or VR46, depending on where you read.

mikesbytes said:

In regards to next years rider lineup, it looks like there will be only 1 or 2 riders gone, perhaps 1 rider from WSBK and only 1 rider from Moto2. The big silly season will be next year

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Fabio di Gianantonio is gone for sure.

Maybes?
Zarco
Morbidelli
Pol Espargaro

Incomers:
Acosta (KTM)
Arbolino (Gresini)
Lecuona (LCR replacing Rins)

Movers (possibly)
Bezzechi to Pramac
Morbidelli to VR46/Gresini
A Fernandez to ?