Yamaha Racing announced this morning in Motegi, Japan that they have finally come to an agreement with Jorge Lorenzo, which sees the Spanish rider signing a two-year contract with the factory team. The announcement isn’t a surprise, as Lorenzo has made it clear over the course of the season that his goal was to remain at Yamaha, with the Japanese company making similar overtures.
Lorenzo is however the last MotoGP alien to sign-up for next year, with the delay likely being due to salary negotiations and other perks within the team, like developing the YZF-M1 to suit his riding style. Lorenzo is currently 56 points ahead of Dani Pedrosa for the MotoGP Championship title, and is heavily favored to win the accolade this year for Yamaha, after finishing second last year to teammate Valentino Rossi.
“We are extremely happy that we have reached an agreement with Jorge to remain a Factory Yamaha rider for 2011 and 2012,” said Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Lin Jarvis. “I am particularly pleased to finally get the agreement in place here in Japan because it will now enable Jorge to focus all of his efforts and concentration in the coming weeks to try to secure his first MotoGP class rider’s title. Being only 23 years old I believe Jorge has a long career ahead of him and hopefully he can win many world titles with Yamaha.”
“My first choice was always to stay here with Yamaha and I am very glad that this will happen,” explained Lorenzo. “I feel happy here; I have good people around me, a strong relationship with Yamaha and a great bike.” Lorenzo went on to explain his enthusiasm for next year and partnering with Ben Spies in the factory squad. Yamaha have said earlier in the week that the “wall” will come down in the garage, with both riders having access to each other’s riding data and setup configurations. Yamaha had erected a metaphorical wall in the 2009 season at the request of Valentino Rossi, who didn’t want to share his information with the rising star Lorenzo.
Source: Yamaha Racing
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