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Toprak Razgatlioglu is to remain in WorldSBK for two more seasons. The Turkish rider agreed a deal with Yamaha which will see him continue with the factory World Superbike squad through the 2023 season.

The deal was something of a surprise, as Razgatlioglu had been heavily linked with the empty seat (or more likely, seats) in Yamaha's MotoGP teams. At 24, and showing a lot of potential, Razgatlioglu seemed ripe for a switch to the MotoGP paddock. However, he has chosen to remain in WorldSBK and pursue the goal of becoming the first Turkish rider to win a World Superbike title.

Razgatlioglu's manager, former World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu, is believed to have a hand in Razgatlioglu's decision. Sofuoglu is a strong supporter of the WorldSBK series, in part because of his own successes in the championship, and in part because of his own bad experiences when he switched to Moto2.

Whether Razgatlioglu can switch to MotoGP at the end of this two-year contract remains to be seen. MotoGP team managers are known to be both strongly prejudiced against riders from WorldSBK (rightly or wrongly), and to favor youth over experience. Razgatlioglu will be 26 at the end of his current WorldSBK contract, and will face competition from some of the top riders currently coming through from Moto3 and Moto2.

Surprisingly, 26 is relatively old in MotoGP: of the current grid, 13 riders are 26 or younger, and the 26-year-olds and those who turn 26 this year - Maverick Viñales, Brad Binder, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, Miguel Oliveira - are all in factory teams, with multiple seasons in MotoGP. Finding a place among the youngsters coming up and the current crop of experienced riders may prove to be very difficult.

The press release from Yamaha appears below:

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu Signs New Two-Year Contract with Yamaha in WorldSBK

Yamaha Motor Europe is delighted to announce a new two-year contract extension for FIM Superbike World Championship title contender and multiple race-winner Toprak Razgatlıoğlu.

After a strong first season aboard the Yamaha R1 in 2020, where Razgatlıoğlu won on his first outing at Phillip Island and scored two further victories on his way to fourth in the series standings, the Turkish rider has made another significant step forward so far this year and sits second in the championship, having already scored seven podiums including a sensational win at Misano.

Those performances have attracted the attention of teams in both WorldSBK and MotoGP, but ahead of the Donington Park WorldSBK round Yamaha Motor Europe and the 24-year-old agreed a new two-year contract extension, which will see Razgatlıoğlu spearhead Yamaha's assault on the FIM Superbike World Championship until the end of 2023.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“Yamaha has become like my family and I’m really happy to be signing for another two years. I think we’ve improved the bike a lot since I joined for the 2020 season, so it was an easy decision for me to make. We are fighting for the championship this year, we’re very close to the top and I have the best people around me in the Pata Yamaha with Brixx team pit box to help me achieve my goals. I like the WorldSBK paddock, and I’m happy racing here. Maybe MotoGP is something I will think about in the future, but for now I am focused completely on getting the job done here in WorldSBK. Thank you to everyone who has worked to make this happen and now I look forward to the future together with Yamaha.”

Andrea Dosoli
Road Racing Manager, Yamaha Motor Europe

“We started this journey together with Toprak in 2020, a strange year for everyone, but one where we developed a good relationship. That served as the basis for the current season which has been very positive so far, the best since Yamaha came back to WorldSBK. The Yamaha R1 keeps improving race-by-race, and this allows Toprak to express his great talent. The decision to extend the collaboration between Toprak and Yamaha Motor Europe for the next two seasons arrived earlier than expected, as we are really convinced that there is more to come, and together we'll be able to challenge for the WorldSBK title. I strongly appreciate the trust Toprak has put in Yamaha, for which I thank him, and I can guarantee that we'll do our best to meet our high expectations.”

Paolo Pavesio
Director, Marketing and Motorsport, Yamaha Motor Europe

“Since joining Yamaha in 2020, Toprak has consistently demonstrated his pace and race winning potential and we're extremely pleased to be continuing this journey together for another two seasons. He has proven that he’s capable of fighting for wins every weekend and in just his second year aboard the Yamaha R1 he’s already announced himself as a WorldSBK title contender. Equally important for us is that he is both an inspiration and a role model for our bLU cRU youngsters, with whom he spends a lot of time during WorldSBK race weekends. I would like to thank Toprak for his confidence in Yamaha, as well as his manager Kenan Sofuoğlu and everyone from our side who worked to make this possible. I think we have an exciting and successful time ahead together and we will work to make sure we give Toprak the best platform for success.”

Today, the Gresini Racing Team announced that their immediate future lies with Ducati. The Italian team, now run by Nadia Padovani, the widow of team's founder Fausto Gresini, will lease Ducati Desmosedici machines from the Bologna factory for the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP seasons.

The link with Ducati had been widely trailed, the Gresini team wavering between remaining with Aprilia as a satellite squad or switch to Ducati. The projected rider pairing may have had an influence on that decision: that Fabio Di Giannantonio would be moving up to MotoGP with Gresini for 2022 was a given, part of his deal for Moto2. But Enea Bastianini's switch from the Esponsorama squad, set to leave MotoGP at the end of 2021, to Gresini was not a foregone conclusion. Bastianini's ties to Ducati may well have weighed in the balance.

While Di Giannantonio already has a contract with Gresini, and is racing for the team in Moto2, it is something of a return for Enea Bastianini, and a reunion for the two riders. Bastianini started his Moto3 career with Gresini, first on a KTM, then later on a Honda, winning two races and scoring another 7 podiums for the Italian team. He was joined by Di Giannantonio in the Gresini Moto3 squad for the 2016 season, before leaving for the Estrella Galicia team.

Although no details of what level of machinery Ducati will be supplying were announced, it is widely expected that the team will have one-year-old bikes, meaning that Di Giannantonio and Bastianini will start the 2022 season with Ducati Desmosedici GP21s. That this is no bad thing is plain from the current MotoGP championship standings, where GP21s occupy positions two, three, and four. The fourth GP21, in the hands of Jorge Martin, has also had a pole and a podium.

Gresini's choice to sign with Ducati means there will be 8 Ducati Desmodedicis on the grid in 2022. The VR46 team, who will take over both slots from Esponsorama next year, are also expected to announce a deal with Ducati soon, with Luca Marini on one machine, and an open seat for the other. However, as the VR46 team is set up to provide bikes for members of the VR46 Riders Academy, the most logical choice would be for current Sky VR46 Moto2 rider Marco Bezzecchi to make the step up alongside Marini. Paddock reports suggest that Marini will get a GP22, while the second rider will be offered a GP21.

The separation of Gresini from Aprilia is part of the new team and factory contract period with Dorna for the coming five seasons. When Aprilia entered MotoGP, there were no spare grid slots, and so Aprilia were only able to enter in partnership with the Gresini squad. This led to the awkward situation of a full-factory effort being present in Parc Ferme as the first independent team rider, and the team taking part in the Independent Team Championship.

Dorna and Aprilia agreed to grant Aprilia their own grid slots for the coming contract period, from 2022 through 2026. Aprilia will now compete as a separate, full factory team, while Gresini become fully independent once again. That independence gave them the freedom to choose who to lease MotoGP machines from, which in turn led to their decision to switch to Ducati.

The press release from Gresini appears below:

THE NEW GRESINI MOTOGP PROJECT IS BORN

The future of Gresini Racing is ‘red’

Starting from next year, Gresini Racing will be back as an Independent MotoGP Team, with Ducati as the manufacturer of choice. This decision has been strongly supported by Fausto’s family, and it leads to a whole new project tied with the Borgo Panigale brand for the next two seasons.

Team Gresini will be back in full control of their Premier Class effort and will do so with the all-Italian line-up of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Enea Bastianini, two talented young riders who are no strangers to Fausto and Gresini Racing.

A big thank you goes to Aprilia Racing for the seven years spent together, which made for an especially important chapter in the history of Gresini Racing.

NADIA PADOVANI – GRESINI RACING TEAM OWNER & TEAM PRINCIPAL

“It’s a very emotional moment for each of us. In previous months, our efforts merged with a strong emotional push to shape the future of Gresini Racing, and now are immensely proud and happy to make the official announcement. It is a project born out of continuity and based on values upon which Fausto built this amazing institution. My thank you goes first and foremost to Carmelo Ezpeleta for making sure we never felt alone during these months, to Ducati for trusting our projects, to Flex-Box who joined us in this new challenge as title sponsor and obviously to Fabio and Enea: I’m sure they will give their best to wave the Gresini Racing banner high.”

GIGI DALL’IGNA – DUCATI CORSE GENERAL MANAGER

“We’re incredibly happy to have reached this agreement with Gresini Racing for the next two MotoGP seasons. We had laid down the foundations of a possible agreement with Fausto already at the end of last year and we would like to thank - from the bottom of our hearts - his family for carrying this project forward with us. Gresini Racing has been an especially important institution in MotoGP for many years and we are confident this partnership, which can count on two very talented riders such as Enea and Fabio, will be of great satisfaction for all parties involved."

CARMELO EZPELETA – CEO DORNA SPORTS

“First of all, it is a pleasure to continue working with Gresini Racing as an Independent Team. I know how much Fausto cared about this project and I'm sure he would be very proud of it now. I had the opportunity to speak with Nadia in recent weeks and I see in her, in her sons and the whole team the determination and the great passion for this sport that characterized him so much. We’re thrilled that Gresini Racing will continue, at least, 5 more years in the Premier Class”.

Maverick Viñales' lackluster 2021 season has caused another casualty. Today, Yamaha announced that his crew chief Esteban Garcia would be leaving his role with immediate effect, to be replaced by Silvano Galbusera. Galbusera was the easy choice, as the Italian veteran is already involved with Yamaha as the crew chief working in the test team, working with Cal Crutchlow to help develop the YZR-M1.

The change has perhaps been predictable. Viñales has been making veiled comments about his team making the wrong decisions during the weekend. After last Sunday's race at Mugello, Viñales criticized the decision to stick with the medium front tire instead of switching to the soft, with which the Spaniard had had a much better feeling on Friday.

"I just went to the medium [front], and then the problems started," Viñales had said on Sunday afternoon. "So I don't know why we didn't try the soft front. So I think we didn't pay enough attention to that, because then in FP1, the first laps, I felt fantastic."

Dropping Esteban Garcia is a remarkable move by Maverick Viñales. Garcia was the crew chief with whom Viñales won his Moto3 title in 2013, and had come to MotoGP at the request of Viñales to replace the experienced veteran Ramon Forcada for the start of the 2019 season.

Forcada switched to the Petronas Yamaha SRT team where he is crew chief for Franco Morbidelli, and he helped Morbidelli to a second place in the Covid-19-stricken 2020 MotoGP championship.

Garcia's replacement, Silvano Galbusera, is no stranger to the factory Yamaha team. Galbusera was crew chief to Valentino Rossi for five years, coming in to replace Jeremy Burgess after Rossi sacked Burgess at the end of the 2013 season, then making way for Rossi's current crew chief, David Muñoz, at the start of 2019.

Viñales gets another chance to make progress at Barcelona, one of his favorite tracks, and a circuit where he has been fast in the past. The Spaniard will be working with Galbusera at Barcelona from the start of FP1 on Friday.

The press release from Yamaha appears below:

ESTEBAN GARCIA AND MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA MOTOGP TEAM MUTUALLY AGREE TO END WORK RELATIONSHIP

Montmeló (Spain), 3rd June 2021

Yamaha Motor Racing Srl confirm that at the end of the Italian GP Esteban García Amoedo and the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team have mutually agreed to terminate their working relationship with immediate effect.

Following the Italian GP, Esteban García Amoedo and the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team have mutually agreed to end their working relationship with immediate effect. Silvano Galbusera will take over the role of Crew Chief for Maverick Viñales for the remainder of the 2021 MotoGP season.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, Yamaha Motor Racing Srl, and the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team members take this opportunity to thank Garcia for the time they spent working together and wish him all the best for the future.

MASSIMO MEREGALLI - TEAM DIRECTOR

Esteban joined our team in 2019. He and Maverick had already worked together before in 2013 and won the Moto3 World Championship that year. We are very grateful to Esteban for his dedication and passion during our time spent together, which led to eleven podiums for Maverick, including four wins, three second places, and four third places. Saying ’Goodbye‘ to one of our crew members is always a sad occasion, but it was a mutual decision based on what‘s best for both parties. We wish Esteban all the best for the future.

Another day, another piece of the 2022 MotoGP rider puzzle falls into place. As had been widely trailed, Remy Gardner will be moving up to the MotoGP class in 2022, taking one of the two seats in the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing team.

The deal had been sealed before Le Mans, after Gardner made such a strong start to the 2021 season. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider has been fiercely consistent so far this year: his worst finish was a fourth place at Jerez, and his ability to consistently score podiums has seen him lead the Moto2 championship since Portimão. Gardner consolidated his championship lead with a hard-fought but convincing win in the Moto2 race last Sunday at Mugello.

With Gardner confirmed at Tech3, all eyes are now on his rookie teammate Raul Fernandez. The Spaniard has made a sensational start to his Moto2 career, winning only his third ever Moto2 race at Portimao, and following it up with a second victory at Le Mans. There is much talk of Fernandez joining Gardner at Tech3, though at the moment, KTM and Tech3 intend to give the seat to the best of their two current riders, leaving Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona to fight it out.

There is no doubt that Fernandez will be in MotoGP soon enough, however. KTM pride theirselves on the talent pipeline, starting in the FIM CEV and leading through the Red Bull Rookies in the Moto3 and Moto2, and Fernandez is a shining example of the success of that program.

With the KTM seats wrapped up, barring a decision over the second Tech3 seat, the next question is what bikes Gresini and the VR46 team will be using in 2022. It looks increasingly likely that Ducati will be supplying the two satellite teams, giving them 8 bikes on the 2022 grid. Decisions and announcements on that should come soon, either at Barcelona or shortly afterward.

The press release from KTM appears below:

Gardner confirmed for 2022 Tech3 KTM Factory Racing MotoGP™ saddle

2021 MotoGP news

Grand Prix winning Moto2™ star Remy Gardner will move into the MotoGP class next season and steer one of the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing RC16s as he continues his upward trajectory at world championship level.

Gardner, the current Moto2 championship leader, Italian Grand Prix victor and owner of five podiums from six events this season as part of Aki Ajo’s Red Bull KTM Ajo squad, has signed a contract to make his MotoGP debut next year and completes the final step on the KTM GP Academy career ‘ladder’ by joining his former team.

The 23-year-old’s potential has been evident through an education that involved one term in Moto3 and five in Moto2. He was finally snared by KTM to round-off advanced phases of his development under Ajo’s watchful eye and in the crew that has pushed both the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing athletes – Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira – to triumph in MotoGP.

Remy made his GP debut in San Marino in 2014. He first stood on the Moto2 podium in 2019 at the Grand Prix of Argentina and has progressed to be one of the main protagonists of the division. After his success at Mugello last weekend he now holds two Moto2 winner’s trophies and fronts the standings by six points.

Gardner will fire-up the Tech3 KTM RC16 for the first round of the 2022 season, almost three decades after his father, Wayne, retired from the premier class of Grand Prix racing in 1992.

Remy Gardner: “I’m extremely happy that KTM have given me this opportunity. It’s a dream come true for me and what we have worked for up until this point. It’s an incredible chance for me and I cannot wait to ride the bike. I just want to thank KTM for believing in me. Right now we need to focus on finishing 2021 in a strong way. I want to thank also everyone who has supported me to reach MotoGP. We’re just getting started.”

Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsport Director: “It’s a real pleasure for us to bring Remy to MotoGP next season because we knew about his speed and ability for Moto2 and he has confirmed that potential. We believe there is much more to come from him and it’s important he has this opportunity to keep growing. Remy is a typical racer. He’s super-determined and never gives up. He’s exciting to watch and we’re looking forward to working with him in this next step. Again, we’re also showing that the KTM GP Academy can give the right opportunity for riders that want to go all the way.”

Hervé Poncharal, Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Team Principal: “We are very proud, happy and confident to welcome Remy. We believe he will be a strong asset to the KTM MotoGP line up and I think having taken this decision is now going to help Remy to focus 100% on his Moto2 World Championship and will also help us, the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Team to focus on our 2021 season. So, welcome back, Remy, keep on pushing and come to join us for your MotoGP adventure in 2022!”