Marc VDS is getting closer to working with Yamaha

According to some media reports, the Marc VDS team is very close to signing a contract with Yamaha, thus becoming their satellite team from next season onwards. It will thus replace the Tech 3 team, which will end its collaboration with the Japanese team at the end of this season and will work with the KTM team in the future. The Marc VDS team has been working with Honda since coming to the MotoGP class in 2015, but now the Belgian team is determined to find a new team to work with in the coming seasons. Team leader Michael Bartholemy has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with working with Honda, as Honda has stepped up cooperation with its other LCR satellite team, represented by Cal Crutchlow and Takaaki Nakagami, who have signed factory contracts with Honda. Teams Avintia and Angel Nieto also showed interest in working with Yamaha, but Valentino Rossi also played a role, recently extending his contract until 2020. Current Moto 2 world champion Franco Morbidelli, a member of Rossi's racing school, is competing for the Marc team. VDS and this too could play an important role in the decision to participate. This topic was recently opened in Qatar by Yamaha team leader Lin Jarvis

“We are working with the Valentino Rossi racing school. We analyze the market in general, but we also have an agreement with this project by Valentino Rossi and the goal is to have one of his racers on the team at the right time. A good example is Morbidelli, we had the opportunity to sign a contract with him as we were very interested in him. But at the moment, both Jonas Folger and Johann Zarco have signed contracts with the Tech 3 team and Rossi and Vinales have signed contracts with us, so we didn't have a motorcycle for him. ”

"Francesco Bagnaia is another interesting example, because when the Tech 3 team decided not to work with us anymore, at that moment we were thinking about the possibility of signing Bagnaia with the Tech 3 team."

Marc VDS are expected to have long-term talks with the Suzuki team, but it is precisely because of these lengthy discussions about the possibility of cooperation that they are shifting their interest to cooperation with Yamaha.