Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/990347
IN THE WIND P44 MOTOGP 2019—THE RIDER MERRY GO ROUND Mir To Suzuki The rumor mill was revving to the red line at Mugello MotoGP last weekend, but while official confir- mation was not forthcoming, it was common cause that the main one was true—that Moto3 World Cham- pion Joan Mir will move straight to MotoGP next year. Mir, who claimed a first Moto2 podium at Le Mans last year, is expected to join the Ecstar Suzuki team alongside Alex Rins. If so, he will be following the trail set by a third Spaniard, Maverick Vinales, who won the Moto3 crown, spent a race-winning 2014 in Moto2, then moved to Suzuki. Both rider and Suzuki team chief Davide Brivio declined to confirm the move, but without naming the rider the latter came close, telling media: "We are working on finalizing an agree- ment. We need a little bit more time." An announcement will prob- ably follow at the next race, in two weeks, in Catalunya. Current Suzuki rider Andrea Ian- none, meanwhile, did announce on race eve that he would not be with Suzuki next year. Lorenzo Back On Yamahas? This move blocks Jorge Lorenzo's hopes of a Suzuki move. But no sooner had the former triple- MotoGP champion confirmed on Thursday that he will not stay at Ducati, but move "to a competitive bike" for the next two years rather than a return to Yamaha, than it went from amusing possibility to likely certainty. By the end of the weekend, we were only awaiting official confirmation that Lorenzo will be heading a new satellite Yamaha team, with a full 2019 factory YZR- M1, the same as that ridden by his former teammate and bitter rival Rossi. Increasingly obvious that his big-bucks switch to Ducati has floundered in its second year de- spite the Mugello win, with neither team nor rider satisfied with prog- ress, renewal of that contract had been looking increasingly unlikely. On Thursday, Lorenzo told pressmen that, "I will not retire, and I will have a competitive bike for the next two years." With the Suzuki seat gone to Mir, neither KTM nor Aprilia would be suitable candidates for the triple MotoGP champion, while after los- ing Johann Zarco, Yamaha would surely be glad to have him back. The New Satellite Yamahas At the same time, major shifts were clarifying the badly muddied waters, with a strong new candi- date to run a new satellite Yamaha team—the veteran Spanish Aspar squad owned by legendary former tiddler champion Jorge "Aspar" Martinez. Yamaha's long-standing part- Joan Mir is headed for the big time on a Suzuki next year. Jorge Lorenzo will almost certainly be back on a Yamaha next year. The Malaysians are coming! Sepang International Circuit CEO Dato Razlan Razali wants the satellite Yamaha contract.