For the 2020 MotoGP season, it appears
that Monster Energy Yamaha will be using the same graphics as in the previous
year. However, during an interview satellite team Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing
Team (SRT) principal Datuk Radzlan Razali, paultan.org was informed the 2020
YZF-R1 is an all new race machine, with new chassis and engine.
This means factory team riders Valentino
Rossi and Maverick Vinales are on all new bikes with carbon-fibre fairing and
swingarm, as is Petronas SRT rider Fabio Quartararo, who posted fastest time in
the Winter Test at Sepang. Meanwhile, Quartararo’s teammate Franco Morbidelli
is riding a 2019 YZR-M1 with “improvements”, said Radzlan.
With Rossi and Vinales still in the first
team for 2020 and as is known, Vinales has signed on 2021, fan favourite Rossi
is still undecided on his future plans. Rossi’s contract with Yamaha ends in
2020 and he has been quoted as saying he would wait till mid-season to decide
his future in MotoGP.
Rossi’s place in the Monster Energy Yamaha
team will be taken by Quartararo with speculation that Rossi might move down to
the satellite team, stay on as a Yamaha test rider or retire to concentrate on
his VR46 race team. In other news, Jorge Lorenzo, who had a dismal and
injury-hit season with Ducati on the Desmosedici GP19 – injuring his back with
a bad fall in Assen last season – has come on board with Yamaha as a test
rider.
Last year, Vinales placed third in the
overall rider standings while Rossi managed seventh. For Vinales, this is his
fourth season with Yamaha, while “The Doctor” has been racing for Yamaha for 15
years.
