There seems to be a shuffle going on in the Fiat Yamaha camp, as a slew of Yamaha’s engineers will be headed to HRC for the 2010 MotoGP season.
With most of the technical talent coming out of Jorge Lorenzo’s side of the paddock, Daniele Romagnoli, Lorenzo’s former team manager, may have familiar faces if he does end up with the factory Honda team.
Coming on the tail of Romagnoli’s resignation, comes news that Andrea Zugna and Cristian Battaglia, two Yamaha electrical engineers will be leaving for work in the HRC garage.
Zugna and Battaglia have always worked with Magneti Marelli components in the past, which suggests that HRC may be making the switch to the Italian electronic manufacturer for 2010.
This move could be a boon for Honda, as Zugna and Battaglia are both credited with being the masterminds of what is probably the best electronics package in the MotoGP paddock, and one of the leading competitive advantages the YZF-M1 has over the rest of the field.
This would be a huge shift for HRC, which has up until this point used its own Formula 1 derived electronics, preferring to keep as much of its RC211V’s components designed in-house.
Also leaving is Fiat Yamaha Carlo Luzzi, Lorenzo’s 2009 telemetry analyst. Luzzi will be continuing on in 2010 as Andrea Dovizioso’s telemetry analyst, which leaves Ramon Aurin in doubt on his position, but rumors peg him as being Dovizioso’s new crew chief for the up-coming season.
With three out of four Yamaha engineers already landing in the HRC camp, it would seem Honda is looking to once again buy its way into MotoGP success, and looking for any edge it can get.
Source: GPone and Motocuatro
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