Yamaha Loses Petronas MotoGP Sponsorship

By David Emmett | Fri, 30/12/2011 - 13:07

Yamaha have suffered a costly blow to their MotoGP program. Today, the factory Yamaha team announced that the three-year deal with Malaysian oil giant Petronas to sponsor Yamaha's MotoGP team will not be extended, and will terminate at the end of 2011. In a joint press release issued with Petronas, Yamaha stated that after three successful years, the agreement had "reached its natural conclusion."

The announcement is very bad news indeed for Yamaha. The deal was reportedly worth $8 million a year for the Japanese factory, and coming on top of the loss of Fiat as a title sponsor at the end of 2010, Yamaha is currently being forced to fund a much greater part of its MotoGP budget - thought to be between 50 and 70 million euros a year - out of its own pocket, a situation that is not sustainable in the current economic climate. The factory seized the opportunity offered by its 50th anniversary in racing to run in factory colors for 2011, which was very well received, especially when the team ran the red-and-white livery that was such a massive hit with the fans. No such anniversary looms for 2012, and with motorcycle sales still in a downward spiral, and no sign of recovery in the global economy, the cost of racing in MotoGP could be too much to sustain for Yamaha.

Throughout 2011, MotoMatters.com pestered Yamaha spokespersons and their MotoGP boss Lin Jarvis about the prospects of obtaining a title sponsor, but our enquiries were always met with stock phrases that talks were ongoing, that Yamaha was hopeful of a successful conclusion, but that it was far too early to say anything, either on or off the record. Yamaha has been linked with several potential sponsors over the past year, including low-cost Malaysian airline AirAsia, which is already heavily involved in sponsoring both a 125cc team (and a Moto3 team for 2012) and a number of MotoGP rounds. Given Yamaha's focus on Southeast Asia - Yamaha's Indonesian subsidiary is a sponsor, and Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies have both spent time in the region for the company - it is conceivable that Petronas is making way for another title sponsor, with a number of companies high-profile candidates from that region.

For the moment, speculation about Yamaha's MotoGP sponsorship must remain just that. Perhaps some real news will be forthcoming when preseason testing starts again at the end of January.

Below is the official press release from Yamaha announcing the end of Petronas sponsorship:

Yamaha and PETRONAS Conclude MotoGP Partnership

30/12/2011

As 2011 draws to a close it marks the end of a successful partnership between Yamaha's Factory MotoGP Team and PETRONAS.

The integrated Malaysian oil and gas corporation came onboard with Yamaha in 2009 and has enjoyed a hugely successful three year relationship.

Yamaha and PETRONAS have been privileged to share in two consecutive Triple Crown MotoGP victories, in 2009 and 2010.

Commenting on the conclusion of the three-year partnership, Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing said "The relationship between Yamaha and PETRONAS has been a great success, we have enjoyed some major achievements together in the MotoGP class. Now that the partnership has reached its natural conclusion I would like to thank our friends at PETRONAS for the support during their time with us and wish them well for the future".

Mohammad Medan Abdullah, Senior General Manager of PETRONAS Group Corporate Affairs Division: "We are happy to have had this opportunity to work with the Yamaha Factory Racing team over the past three years. In that time, we have enjoyed the benefits of strong brand exposure through the privilege of being associated with a team that shares our values and passion. The team has achieved many successes through a high level of competitiveness and stretched performance standards and we wish the team continued success in the future".

Jointly issued by Yamaha Factory Racing and PETRONAS Motorsports

MotoGP
Yamaha
Jorge Lorenzo
Ben Spies

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Comments

Yamaha is in a bad position. Because of prestige, honor, and basic sales they cannot leave MotoGP like Suzuki did. Without being in racing at the very top, their credibility on the street is hurt. But even if the unthinkable happened - that they pulled out of MotoGP - from a corporate perspective it would be a big hit. I glanced at Yamaha's recent financial statements and recreation products (i.e., motorcycles and off road vehicles) only make up a tenth of the company's sales and income. That may not seem like a lot, but it is when you look at how much their bread and butter (i.e., musical instruments and the audio/visual/IT industries) has dropped in this economy.

That leaves Yamaha in a jam. They need to keep selling bikes for the company's bottom line, but they cannot sell bikes unless they run at the front of the field, and they cannot afford to run at the front unless they get a lot of sponsorship money (the marketing division can only supply so much), and they cannot get sponsorship money unless the economy improves AND they run at the front getting a lot of TV air time. What can they do?

AirAsia is an interesting idea. The geography is right as you say, and the company is working really hard to expand its presence in East Asia. But they have spent a lot on the 787 and its promotion. I see them more likely as a title sponsor for Sepang (?) or a different place WHERE THEY HAVE A HUB, not on the side of a motorcycle that spends more than half its races on tracks in a hemisphere they do not serve.

"it's me or Jorge", has had more teeth than Yamaha knew. Although, they (Yamaha) felt it was the right direction to go. Dollars sense and in hindsight now, it seems like 2010 WC handed to them by Jorge, with Rossi injured that year, may not have been the best choice. Especially, now with so much new talent popping up in Moto-2 and Moto-3.

With Jorge unable to expand his fanbase to Rossi size, unable to bring in major Sponsorship, unable to be the draw in the Asian sector. Yamaha is taking a beating, while Ducati, although losing badly in 2011 Motogp, have seen their Ducati brand prosper along with their new opening Ducati Factory in Asia.

Not sure if David will let me post this link from motorcycle-usa.com, I'm giving it a try anyways.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/577/11353/Motorcycle-Article/New-Ducati-M…

Here is an excert of that article that I like, "Ducati chose the Rootz Club in Kuala Lumpur to unveil its latest Monster. Valentino Rossi was on hand for the October 20th unveiling festivities, The Doctor in town for the MotoGP race at Sepang. Designed specifically for the Asian market, the Ducati Monster 795 looks quite familiar – it’s a hybrid of the 696 and 796".

"The bigger news, which isn't found on the www.monster.ducati.com announcement, is where this new Monster will be built – or at least assembled. Late last year news leaked that Ducati would open an assembly plant in Thailand to circumvent high import duties".

Ducati states its Monster 795 will be available in Thailand, China, Inda, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillipines, Vietnam and Singapore".

Jorge contract is up and we all know he wants Rossi type money, but with his inability to lure in new fans, I can't see him getting a $10M contract signing. Not the way Yamaha have been bleeding money as the watch their sales dwindle.

with the world teetering on the edge of a meltdown abyss has nothing to do with it? It's all down to Rossi magic.

I shall be very intrigued to see just where this magic will land him 2013 (if he gets that far). Fair play his manager sold the overpriced myth and legend to Malboro 2010. I can't see Malboro Red's lying around the Rossi pit 2013 though. Perhaps some plain pack discount brand ones.....

I guess Ducati must run their business in Mars or Jupiter since the Gobal Financial Crisis of Earth doesn't appear to be affecting them.
Saying that Rossi isn't as talented rider as people think is a valid interesting point to be discussed in length. Saying that Rossi isn't a marketing gold mine is downright Rossi-hating.

Any sport which allows its image to be dominated by the cult of one individual participant is a sport in deep trouble. Ezpeleta and his cronies have made MotoGP about Rossi, when it should be about motorcycle racing at the highest level.

That Yamaha, an international motorcycle manufacturer, with a brilliant rider like Lorenzo , can't find a sponsor, is the clearest indication possible that MotoGP is in deep trouble, and is doing something seriously wrong.

F1 has never allowed any individual driver, however charismatic, to become bigger than the sport. Even a towering figure like Ayrton Senna. In my opinion the Rossi thing is bad for the long term health of MotoGP. This is not Rossi bashing. it's about taking a long hard and pragmatic look at how the sport is promoted, and its long term health. Relying on Rossi is just papering over the ever growing cracks.

Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are two all time greats of their sport, but golf and tennis has never just been about those two. Even though Tiger Woods is a far bigger international name than Rossi ever could be. But in MotoGP we have people who seem to think that MotoGP is Rossi. Big, big mistake and unbelievably short sighted.

Not to sound to much like a broken record but to me the actual problem are the technical regulations. They didn't made the sport all about Rossi, they made it boring and processional so to the wider audience there wasn't that much to tune-in for except Rossi. If you ask a non die-hard non purist fan of MotoGP about great moments of the last 5 year they will almost certainly bring up a Rossi/someone battle.
In my less than expert opinion if you want to bring non rider-specific sponsors then use 1000cc engines with no fuel limit, TC as safety-only feature, no anti-wheelie, no any other E-aids, a wide selection of tyres that wear off and I would make it mandatory for the factories to lease at least 3 bikes no more than 1 year old at a price of no more than 2 millions.
Make the racing exiting and they will come (sponsors, spectators, good times and anything else you might need).

The question is why Petronas is unwilling to spend 8 million a year on one of the top teams in MotoGP. 8 milion is nothing to a company like Petronas. They are happy to spend millions in F1, and it has nothing to do with who the drivers are. It's all about international branding and image. So why doesn't Petronas see value in MotoGP sponsorship, especially when Malaysia has a MotoGP race, and many Malaysians ride motorcycles? People posting here that this is a Yamaha/Rossi thing are completely missing the bigger picture.

F1 had a fair bit of boring processional racing for years and still the sponsors were tripping over themselves to get involved, at least until the world financial crisis a couple of years ago. And as far as I am aware MotoGP race attendances have been fairly solid in 2011, even with Rossi not a factor at the front.

I am one of those people who is not at all convinced that 1000 cc will change anything. In fact, in a time when the world is moving to smaller engines for environmental reasons, why is MotoGP going in the opposite direction? Jeremy Burgess has expressed a view that MotoGP should have reduced engine size, not increased it. I wonder if MotoGP isn't making itself an irrelevant niche sport. Worse than that, it is a niche sport that in the public perceptions is all about one particular rider. That is why people remember Rossi versus whoever, because there is this public perception that MotoGP is all about Rossi. This is unhealthy for MotoGP. Rossi is not the future of MotoGP.

We should be asking ourselves why sponsors aren't rushing to sponsor a top MotoGP team like Yamaha. If this is just about the Rossi/Yamaha breakup then MotoGP really is in deep trouble.

Sponsors don't care about races, racers or technology. They care about publicity, the reason that F1 is so popular with them is that cars are far more relatable to common people because far more people have cars than bikes and F1 has 100 years (or so) of tradition and mystic behind it. A picture of a F1 car with your brand on it promotes said brand far better and to a far bigger audience. And I would love to know what current F1 technology has something to do with street cars technology.
Bikes can't offer F1 glamour and most people don't care about them because they don't use them. There are two things you can use to sell motorcycle racing, widening audiences and shocking images (not necessarily crashes, a Rossi on Gibernau overtake for instance). Boring races produce a lack of both.
Rossi is either a curse or a blessing on MotoGP depending on what you do about him. He brings the outsiders to the sport widening the audience, then if you are smart you offer them something else to keep them interested so they stay even if Rossi leaves. And that something else for bike racing is EMOTIONS, you can't attract car drivers with bike technology, you can't attract cub ridding kids with extremely expensive traction control, if you could attract people to racing with fuel consumption (which you can't) you should use 100cc engines on regularity races, and last but not least charismatic racers are hard to find in any racing venue.
I use to be a big fan of car races, that stopped when I found MotoGP back in 2004 (yes that little I have seen of GP bike racing). the 2011 MotoGP season would not have pulled me of 4 wheels. Why? very simple, here in Argentina MotoGP races come on early on Sundays, back them I would wake up to watch them and loved them, now I have to get out of bed to avoid falling back to sleep so I can make it to the end.
And before any one puts down my opinion for not understanding the "true essence" of prototype bike racing; I I'm exactly what this sport desperately needs, a casual viewer that falls in love with the sport at first sight, right now I watch the races and I follow the QP and official tests on motogp.com and I can assure you that that didn't happen because of races with 15 second gaps at the front.

Please.
I understand that as fans we all like to debate about, and criticize riders of our favorite sport. And among them, Lorenzo does (did ?) have some irritating habits... at least in public.

But come on, flaming a rider for not bringing enough money to the team ? (and I could add regardless of his own personal sponsors but that's not the point)

Sorry, but I have enough of that financial stuff everyday in my TV since this goddamn crisis, can we please let us keep it here about twisting throttles, sliding knees and cracking fuel ? :D In that respect Lorenzo does the job IMO.

Obviously Marlboro had enough of their poster boy whose actions rankled very so deep they offered more money once to Jorge. When he turned them down and the golden goose became available it became a Sponsor's dream come true for the marriage to get all the blessings possible.

The winning may not be happening but the popularity blesses them with greenbacks beyond their bean counters forecast. Heck....he is now the number one twitter draw for Motogp, even though he's 3 month into that media. Sadly, though, others don't realize some people transcends beyond their sport parameters.

Happy New Years, everyone. \(@-@)/

This could also present the best opportunity for Yamaha bosses to consider offering Yamaha R1 CRT engines! Colin Edwards will be upset but he could switch back to Tech3 (contract pending) in 2013 and have things sorted the way he wanted before he switched teams/brands. Having more Yamaha products on the grid would gain them more media exposure for the factory and the CRT groups that run their engines. Costs would be a lot cheaper and gaining more sponsorships may be more attainable for Yamaha teams. After Yamaha goes CRT... then maybe Ducati will follow suit especially if they have another 2011 season next year.

Petronas sponsorship will be missed as every dollar counts, but I believe Yamaha saw this comming a long time back and have 2012 covered at worst. As Jarvis said...a natural conclusion.
Now I would love to see them run Yamaha red/white the whole of 2012. Sponsors,who knows. It would be great to see the tobacco giants join the party big time. The world is apparently going up in smoke anyway.
Welcome back Marlboro/ Yamaha.
Their sponsorship of Ducati was a short,unfullfilling puff in 2011,rather than the long draw they enjoyed during the Loris/Casey/Ducati era.
One thing for sure. Yamaha and team have 2012 covered. Bikes,riders and commitment.
If the GP circus ends up CRT circus in 2013,so be it,but 2012 is prototype up front. Ducati/Yamaha/Honda battle and team Yamaha with Lorenzo and Spies are going to be as tough a nut to crack as ever.
Lets face it. 2nd and 5th with no title sponsor 2011 speaks volumes.
No Petronas,no train smash.

Now I admit I wondered, cluelessly, from time to time, but 50-70 MILLION euro to run a couple of bikes for a year! That's more than some F1 teams!
Are this figures serious?
So how much does it cost for WSB or BSB? €10m? €20? more...???
That is absolutely disgusting and wholly unsustainable in any economy. Jeez, I feel really stupid now.

Something HAS to be done.
Watching motorcycle live this year on eurosportuk, they showed one of the bikes ridden in the WSB series. (can't remember which one). But what I do remember is James saying that it's identical to the production bike in every way except all of it! i.e. It looks the same but it's nothing like what you buy...carbon fiber etc...

So what's the point?
Super stock & super sport should be what the manufacturer actually sells on the shop floor. Tyres n all!!! That's it. No extras. Make it safer by removing mirrors, lights etc.

BSB & WSB should be the stock bike & what ever modifications can be purchased by any Joe blogs. NOTHING prototype. That's what MotoGP is for.

I am still in complete shock at those figures. It's no wonder Suzuki & Kawasaki pulled out!

Max

Yep, Your right... My bad.
I stopped watching the F1 a LONG time ago & remember eddie Jordan talking about some of the back running teams & budgets.
But my meaning was that there's no way it should cost that amount of money for bikes. Prototype or not. It's obscene.

Max

If the estimates are accurate, MotoGP is certainly on the wrong side of silly money. However, the nominal expenditure is not nearly as big a problem as the lack of value it generates, imo. MotoGP is almost good for nothing--a rich man's blood sport, the subconscious upwelling of humanity's desire to establish an informal caste system. The manufacturers get little useful technology. The fans get terrible racing and competitive stagnation. Dorna and Bridgepoint get revenue contraction.

Fuel-limiting grand prix motorcycles has been the worst regulatory paradigm in the history of grand prix racing, and I hope the withdrawal of Petronas causes Yamaha to move closer to a rev-limited 1000cc formula. Rev-limits are hardly a panacea, but they are less intrusive than the 81mm bore limit, and less costly than the 21L fuel-limit. Rev limits would also create a much better on-track entertainment product, imo.

Though it may seem impossible, Petronas' withdrawal could be good for the sport.

Incredible amount of money to develop a prototype motorcycle not much faster than a modded superbike. I guess Yamaha enjoys burning cash.

How much do you suppose the other factories are spending?
One second per lap could be the difference between winning or coming in 10th. Race motorcycle development is at a point of diminishing returns. Those tenths of seconds cost money. How much is a shot at victory worth?

The M1 preceded the R1 and there seems to be a direct line between the two, unlike say the RCV and the CBR.
If there was no M1 development the R1 would be a different and slower bike.
MotoGP development money does lead to better sports bikes and SBK bikes so it is not just burned.

the r1 was released in 1998, well before yamaha were working on 4T motogp bikes.
but i agree that motogp development has lead to better production bikes, i dont know how much longer that will be the case tho

That Yamaha haven't secured a major Spanish sponsor of some variety. Jorge is one of the best riders Spain has had - better than Pedrosa or Criville.. maybe Yamaha are just asking too much for a premier sponsor? I'm sure there would be companies willing to jump on board for AN amount of money. Its probably unrealistic to expect sponsorship of the level they enjoyed with Rossi though.

Maybe Yamaha need to poach Suppo or somebody who can reel in some big fish. On the face of things with such good, marketable riders and such a recent history of success, and a still growing MotoGP audience they ought to be able to find somebody with a few bucks to rub together. I'd love to see a brand the calibre of Coke or Sony or Emirates get involved with GP again.

Like the AMA Superbike which went through a usless shake up, IMO. The big problem was Mat Mladin and Ben Spies. They were just better than anyone else. The top 4 in MGP are causing everyone to spend themselves out of existance. The bitter pill to swallow is to dumb down the equipment where more people can race them to 90-95% instead of just the top 4.

The main 3 manufactures could SELL a lesser version (off the shelf) of their protoypes where they wouldn't be so afriad to let tuners open up the cases and look inside. History was made from racers on bike making half the power they do today. The speed is only part of the show. There was a era when average people could afford a TZ 500/750 and find a way to run it for a season. Now only a corporate sponsoned mega team can race.

MotoGP/500s has always been dominated by just a handful of riders. The best period in recent memory was the late 1980s to early 1990s when the riders were Lawson, Gardner, Rainey, Schwantz and later Doohan. Then it was just Doohan and later Rossi. Having four aliens is actually historically a strong field.

And there has always been plenty of strung out processional races in MotoGP/500s and small fields. Just check the results going back 10 years or 20 years. A lot of people have very short memories, or else they are newcomers to the sport.

And to me, the idea of dumbing down the field to handicap the aliens is fundamentally unsporting and wrong. It's like asking Usain Bolt to run an extra meter to create a closer finish in the 100 or 200 meters sprints. Leave that kind of stuff to Nascar, a class of racing I find profoundly boring. MotoGP is supposed to be the pinnacle of two wheeled motorsport, with the best riders and fastest bikes, not some club race.

Clearly MotoGP is to some extent a niche sport, which means it has limited access to funds, and clearly there must be cost controls. So CRT is probably a step in the right direction. But that in itself is no guarantee of close racing. If a couple of riders have exceptional talent and dominate so what? Let's celebrate talent, not try to dumb it down.

I thought that was the argument FOR the technology. Just bang the throttle wind open and let the electronics take over - anybody could ride them then?

I reckon I'm on pretty secure ground in stating the Aliens win primarily due to talent. As there has always been, there always shall be an elite. Sometimes one, two, four or even five. Right now it's three with a couple more sniffing around. Pretty damn good historically. Nowt will ever change that.

Between 2007 and 2011 there were 7 race winners not 6. Interesting stats, but still doesn't prove anything about the reason why. What about 1987 to 1991 and previous periods? What about the period of Agostini's dominance on the MV Augusta?

Reasons? Ultra conservative Bridgstone tires, electronics, four aliens who are way better than the rest of the field? The last reason is the most important in my view. Electronics should have made it easier for lesser riders to win, not harder. Remember that the four aliens were not the only riders on works bikes. Capirossi, Melandri, Hayden, Edwards, Spies, Dovizioso, Simoncelli all had works or works spec bikes. None of them have been able to match the aliens on equal equipment. Blaming the small number of winners on electronics is too easy, and too simplistic.

PS. Take this further. Between 1994 and 2006 there were just two aliens, Doohan and Rossi. Those two won a big majority of the races. The rest of the race wins were shared by a number of lesser riders. From 2007 on there were three and then four aliens. That is, there were four riders at Rossi's exalted level. It is like having four Rossis instead of one. It was statistically inevitable that those four riders would win the vast majority of the races. Nothing to do with electronics or anything else.

I wanted to go back into the 70's but Wikipedia "easy to mine" data runs out in 1992. I think many aspects affect the current state of affairs.
Several rider have said that with an 800cc bike there is only one correct line around a corner and that that line is quite narrow (I think just one is a little exaggerated) but this means that the options a rider has when reaching a corner are less than before.
Besides there are fewer choices on tyres for the race which limit race strategies and this tyres in particular demand to be ridden in a specific way and remain stable throughout the race this again reduces the number of appropriated ways of ridding.
Then there are electronics which basically reduce rider input (there still plenty of rider input but less than before) and I would expect that they are set to a specific riding style, so if you ride that way you get the best out of them.
What I think is going on is that before, when entering or exiting a corner (or any other part of the track) a rider had several option, some better, some worse, better or worse depending on the specific moment and the specific rider and there where more than one correct setup for the bike and more than one correct race strategy. All those factors meant that sometimes you got it right and some times you got it wrong even if you hadn't made any mistakes.
Today I think the proper ways to ride are fewer and you either get it right or you get it wrong, there is no better or worse. So the rider that can adapt to that specific way of riding go really fast and the ones who can't go really slow.
Basically you can't adapt the ride to you style you have to adapt your style to the ride (or at least is harder than ever before).

wosideg (not verified)
11 years 3 months ago
Permalink

Rossi brought the FIAT money to Yamaha at $14m a year or 42 million in total. This money, it was agreed, would pay his wages taking pressure off Yamahas resources. Greedy Jarvis was scared Jorge would defect to Ducati, tempted by their big money offer to replace Stoner. He persuaded Val to take a 5 million reduction, pleading poverty because of the WFC, then promptly gave that money to Lorenzo to secure his services, believing Rossi and FIAT would be happy? They weren't and left..disgusted with the way he did business. Petronas couldn't leave at the time as they were locked into a contract, but they didn't like it either and didn't forget.

2011, with no title sponsor but with Petronas still paying 8 million..Jarvis could have made them joint partners, promoting them if you like as a thank-you and with an eye on them continuing for this year..but no! They held out for a 14 million replacement for FIAT and when nothing was forthcoming, decided the 50th anniversary idea would suffice as cover, temporarily deflecting criticism.

What exactly is his job? He's presided over 22 million a year vanishing from the racing coffers. Would Suppo still have a job if this had happened on his watch?

Jarvis made the 'We must keep Lorenzo at all costs' call. I wonder if Jorge will reciprocate this loyalty come contract time, if Yamahas bike is affected by a shortfall in funding and money is tight for rider wages.

"He persuaded Val to take a 5 million reduction, pleading poverty because of the WFC, then promptly gave that money to Lorenzo to secure his services, believing Rossi and FIAT would be happy? They weren't and left..disgusted with the way he did business"

"They held out for a 14 million replacement for FIAT and when nothing was forthcoming, decided the 50th anniversary idea would suffice as cover, temporarily deflecting criticism"

How do you know these things? It sounds like your THEORY of what may have happened? Pretty harsh criticism of Jarvis if that's the case.

It's always easier to criticize another person's decisions without knowing what factors went into making them.

What a wonderful world it would be if the title was decided on who has the biggest sponsorship rather than the ability to win races, eh Dray and Wos? Then evil Yamaha would have been rightfully punished by being beaten by their cruelly and unjustly spurned ex-rider.

wosideg (not verified)
11 years 3 months ago
Permalink

I thought it was more than a bit of both last year? The corporate Honda bankroll to save face and Stoner.

As for Yamaha and Jarvis..what goes around usually comes around, maybe sooner rather than later in this case if Ezpeleta has the courage of his convictions.

Last time I checked, the only saving Stoner moment was Motegi 2011. He did it all on his lonesome. Long may it continue.
Saving Ducati and Rossi in terms of GP is another matter that will no doubt play itself out in Sepang testing. Philip Morris bankroll and all.
As this is a Yamaha/Petronas topic,I would like to be enlightened as to why some posters are trying to turn this into a Rossi/Stoner issue.
Nice try gents,but no cigar. Yamaha/Lorenzo and Spies have 2012 covered.
If we see a Petronas/Fiat badge on a Ducati in April,so what ?.

With whose money is Jarvis trying to lock Lorenzo in for 2013/2014?? 2012 testing hasn't even concluded yet and he's trying to keep Lorenzo from leaving!? And what about Ben Spies? What does that say about Yamaha wanting to keep him in the other garage after 2012? Lin definitely has some money hidden up his sleeves and in his socks somehow. Since Yamaha, Honda, and Ducati have sponsor money to play with at will... they should use it to produce CRT engines for custom chassis! Yamaha with the R1, Ducati with the 1199 engine, and Honda with the RVF-V4 engine that's on a bench somewhere! Yamaha should use their money more wisely to develop the new crop of up-and-coming talent instead of tossing it at their overpriced alien Lorenzo!

Exactly Wosi, 8 million is absolute chickenfeed to Petronas. I know the company well, having lived in Malaysia and other parts of South-East Asia for quite a few years, working as an executive in the oil and gas industry. To make this about the Yamaha/Rossi split is extremely simplistic and short sighted. There is a MUCH bigger picture here, and it is about the survival of MotoGP as an international sport. DORNA and everyone else needs to understand why Petronas doesn't see even a paltry 8 million a year value in MotoGP, then do something about it.

With David's next post saying that Yamaha have secured one of Petronas' competitors as a sponsor. They were following contractual obligations in not announcing signing one as the other was ending.

After thinking about it a while I'm not sure if the sponsorship situation is out of whack or if the dearth of private teams can be blamed on leasing bikes. The factories will usually always have good access to money as long as they can be relatively competitive. I'm not sure how Suzuki or Kawasaki screwed it up but to me it proves that you need a proven winning rider to have a successful factory team. For satellite teams money is always a concern. One huge issue is bike costs. At a minimum the Ducati satellite teams would have been happy to use their 2010 bikes again in 2011 but they had to pay another 2.5M per bike to 'renew' the lease. Tech 3 actually had to give the Yamaha factory team their hand-me-down 2010 frames back! After paying 2M+ for a new lease! Honda factory bikes made the biggest step but that was during the 2010 season, the 2010-2011 changes were minimal. To the bike at least.

As usual, the factories will spend whatever money they can but at least they should have the grace to allow satellite teams to own the equipment so they can survive in the long term.

Chris
http://moto2-usa.blogspot.com/