For Yamaha Racing Director Lin Jarvis, Fabio Quartararo’s contract extension until the end of the 2026 MotoGP season is above all a vote of confidence in the brand
The continued collaboration between Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha in the premier class of the motorcycle world championship, which was confirmed a few days ago with a contract extension until the end of 2026, is an important vote of confidence for both sides
“We are obviously very happy to announce the signing for two more seasons,” Yamaha Race Director Lin Jarvis told MotoGP.com, speaking of an “extremely important” step in this context.
“It is important to have the rider under contract who has been our mainstay for years,” Jarvis said of Quartararo. On behalf of Yamaha, the British-born race director of the Japanese manufacturer considers it very important that they can continue to count on Quartararo’s services. Jarvis himself will retire at the end of the 2024 season.
Jarvis describes how important it is for Yamaha that Quartararo stays: “We know that he is clearly the rider who can get the most out of the [Yamaha] bike’s capabilities. On the other hand, I also see this as a vote of confidence. He knows our plans and where we want to go.”
With this, the still-Yamaha race director is referring to what “El Diablo” himself said about his contract extension. In the press conference last Thursday in Austin, Quartararo justified his commitment for two more years with “confidential things for the future”.
What exactly he meant by these words, Quartararo left open, but hinted: “There are interesting things that are still strictly confidential. It’s about new people. The project is going to be really big.”
Jarvis, whose successor will in all likelihood be Paolo Pavesio from Yamaha Europe, is also not yet revealing everything about the future. He says: “We have plans to return to winning ways. We are fully aware of the gap we currently have to several competitors. We know that we have to fundamentally change our approach. And that also applies to the people.”
“What I can say,” Jarvis said of Quartararo, “is that his decision to stay with us is a sign of the confidence he has to win races again in the color blue in the future.”
In his more than five years with Yamaha so far (first Petronas team, then factory team), Quartararo has, according to Jarvis, “recognized the mistakes we have made, but also recognized the investments we have made.”
The fact that the 2021 MotoGP World Champion has now committed to Yamaha for two more years until the end of 2026 is, in Jarvis’ eyes, “an investment that he himself has made in his own future. He likes being a Yamaha factory rider”.
In this context, Jarvis hints that Yamaha will commit to the new MotoGP regulations from 2027 in the not too distant future: “We are firmly committed to this racing series. The rules for the period from 2027 to 2031 are currently being finalized. We assume that we will also commit to this next era at some point in the near future.”
“The start of this era,” continued the Yamaha race director, “is still three years away at the moment. There is still a lot to do before then, but we are on the right track.”