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LORENZO GOING ALONE
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.
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.
MOTOGP MUSICAL CHAIRS
Rins to Suzuki, Espargaro brothers also on the move
There was some big news confirmed before and at the Assen
round of the 2016 MotoGP championship. The biggest being that
of Moto2 rider Alex Rins, who signed a two-year deal with the
factory Suzuki team. That defined the Team Suzuki MotoGP rider
line-up for 2017 and 2018 with Rins alongside Andrea Iannone
aboard the factory GSX-RR. A really impressive duo who are sure
to shine on the ever improving Suzuki machine.
That move pretty much pushed a not so happy Aleix Espargaro
out the door at Suzuki. Not soon after the Rins news broke,
rumours surfaced that Aleix was in talks with Aprilia, and not too
long after that the Italian manufacturer confirmed he would be
riding for them in 2017 alongside Sam Lowes. Aleix Espargaro
had offers from both Kawasaki and Yamaha to join their respective
teams in World Superbike. Also, in MotoGP, Aspar Ducati wanted
him but Aleix sought a factory team. Espargaro signed a two-year
deal with Aprilia, with the option to end the contract after one year
in case either part will be unhappy with the results.
No news yet about the plans of Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista,
only rumours about a possible Aprilia satellite team that would
retain the two. We hope to see them move to WSBK to give the
likes of Rea, Sykes and Davies a good run for their money...
Pol Espargaro, younger brother to Aleix, was also on the move as
he stepped out of the Tech3 Yamaha team for 2017 and into the
newly formed KTM Factory team. He joins a familiar face in the
team, Bradley smith, who has been his team-mate in the Tech3
Yamaha team for the past 2 years.
12 RIDEFAST MAGAZINE JULY 2016