After 26 seasons at the helm of Yamaha, Britain’s Lin Jarvis revealed last weekend in an interview with Autosport that 2024 will be his final year as the brand’s most senior executive. Before closing this chapter, Jarvis managed to extend 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo’s contract until the end of 2026.
Having secured the Frenchman, the manager’s efforts are now focused on regaining the satellite team that Yamaha gave up at the end of 2022, after not renewing with RNF, who signed with Aprilia instead.
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At a time when the analysis of bike data has become a key element in their development, having just two M1s on the grid is an obvious handicap that Jarvis is trying to rectify. However, in order to realise that desire he has to convince one of the independent teams – a considerable hurdle considering that the only options available would be to move away from the Ducati they race on to a Yamaha that hasn’t won any races in over a year and so far in 2024 has come nowhere near a podium.
Until a few months ago, most of the signs suggested that VR46 was the right structure for the alliance that the Iwata factory was looking for, especially because of the link between Valentino Rossi and the Japanese manufacturer. Four times a world champion with Yamaha between 2004 and 2009, Rossi was made a brand ambassador for the Japanese manufacturer last year.
However, the reality is that the Tavullia-based team is one step away from extending its commitment to Ducati for the next two years, with an option to go even further. The latter is not a trivial detail, given that it is now when the pieces are being placed on the board on which the game will begin in 2027, when the new technical regulations come into play, marked by the reduction in engine displacement to 850cc and the limitation of aerodynamics.
“I’m still optimistic that we can have a satellite team again in 2025 because that’s what we want,” said Jarvis in a chat with Autosport in Austin. “As far as I know, VR46 and Ducati haven’t formalised anything yet. Achieving our goal would be the best news for the championship and for Yamaha.”
Despite the Yamaha boss’s hopes, the offer VR46 received from Borgo Panigale meets almost all the ambitions of Rossi’s ‘tribe’. This is how Alessio Salucci, his manager and Rossi’s right-hand man, acknowledged it so forcefully to Autosport.
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