Detail

Yamaha Announces Continuation of Contract with Pol Espargaro for 2016

August 7, 2015

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. confirms the extension of its Agreement with MotoGP rider Pol Espargaro for a further 1 year. As a result of this Agreement the 24-year-old will continue his MotoGP career for another year with the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1.

Espargaro joined the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team for his rookie season in the premier class in 2014, following his championship victory in the Moto2 class the year before. He immediately adapted to the MotoGP class achieving sixth position in the championship to claim the accolade of ‘rookie of the year' as well as ‘top satellite MotoGP rider'.

Espargaro currently stands 9th in the 2015 championship.

In addition to the MotoGP program Espargarò recently teamed up with teammate Bradley Smith and Katsuyuki Nakasuga to win the Suzuka 8 hours endurance race and give Yamaha its 5th victory in the history of this prestigious event.

Lin Jarvis

"I am very pleased that Pol will remain with Yamaha for next season. Pol is one of the pool of very talented young riders that will surely have a big future in the MotoGP class in years to come. His 2014 debut season was very strong and he achieved 6th place at the end of the year behind the riders of the Factory Teams. He has faced many difficulties in the first half of 2015 but we are still convinced that he has a big potential and remains one of the most exciting, young talents for the future. With his plans for next season now confirmed he can focus on putting together a strong second half of the 2015 championship with more to come next year."

Pol Espargaro

"I'm happy because renewing my contract with a factory like Yamaha is always going to be fantastic. Yamaha gave me the opportunity to make my debut in MotoGP and together, I think we had a really good first season. This year we are working hard to improve our results that have not been as strong as we would have liked at this point of the year. However, next season there will be some important changes in the category, such as the alterations to the technical regulations and especially, the changing of the tyre supplier. From my point of view, the less you change with regards to the team and the bike, the easier it will be to adapt to all of this. Despite some tricky moments this year, I know the bike and I know I can continue to work well together with Yamaha and Tech3 in order to achieve our goals. This announcement is also fantastic following the success at Suzuka, where we undertook some really good work together that concluded in the victory which was great for Yamaha and also for my confidence. Therefore, I hope that this result and the renewal of my contract will help me for the nine races that we still have left in 2015, which is the most important thing for me to focus on right now."