Jarvis on Yamaha's racing line-up next season: We want Franco to stay

In an interview before the start of the race weekend in Austin, Lin Jarvis emphasized that Yamaha wanted to extend the collaboration with Franco Morbidelli, thus denying rumors that they were trying to place Toprak Razgatlıoğlu alongside Fabio Quartararo in the team.

At the beginning of the week, the Turk tested a Yamaha MotoGP motorcycle in Jerez. He completed a total of 116 laps in two days at the Jerez circuit, and his fastest time was 1,4 seconds slower than Dani Pedrosa and seven tenths of a second faster than Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow.

Franco Morbidelli, whose contract expires at the end of the season, is said to be under a lot of pressure due to poor results in the past two seasons. Razgatlıoğlu and Pramac racer Jorge Martin are mentioned as the main candidates for his possible replacement. However, he impressed Morbidelli at the last race in Argentina, when he was faster than his teammate Fabio Quartararo throughout the weekend.

"Our wishes are for Franco to be as fast as he was in Argentina in the rest of the season," Jarvis told reporters.

"If this is the case, then there will be no problems regarding the extension of the contract. This is also our goal. If this is not the case, we will look for other solutions. One of these is Toprak. That's why it was important to offer him a motorcycle test."

"Every racer has the desire to test himself in the MotoGP class. It was a good opportunity for Toprak to get to know the motorcycle better, and for us to see how fast it is."

"After two days, it is difficult to give smart conclusions. What Toprak would definitely tell you is that there is a big difference between riding a Superbike motorcycle on Pirelli tires compared to a MotoGP motorcycle with Michelin tires. You need quite some time to get used to it."

"Toprak has a great feel for the front of the motorcycle. In races, this is particularly visible when braking. A MotoGP bike, on the other hand, is more rigid, so he has to change his riding style quite a bit if he wants to be fast.”