Spaniard Alex Rins will team up with Frenchman Fabio Quartararo next year at Yamaha in MotoGP, replacing Italian Franco Morbidelli, at the end of his contract with the Japanese team, the latter announced on Wednesday.
“We are delighted that Alex is joining the team (…), he has great experience as a MotoGP rider and is known for his natural talent and his multiple victories,” said team boss Lin. Jarvis, quoted in a press release.
The 27-year-old Spaniard, currently at Honda-LCR, made his debut in the premier class of motorcycle speed with Suzuki in 2017. In 2018, he scored the first of his 18 MotoGP podiums, including 6 successes and finished 3rd in the drivers’ championship in 2020, his best performance all seasons combined in the premier category.
Arriving in Honda’s satellite team at the start of 2023, after Suzuki’s departure from the championship at the end of last year, he is currently in 13th place in the championship, before the 9th round of the year contested this weekend. end in Britain, which he will miss with a leg injury.
Next year, Rins will therefore recover the handlebars of Franco Morbidelli who pays for his lack of results – he had finished 17th in the championship in 2021 when Quartararo was titled – and 19th in 2022.
“It’s unfortunate that the last two years have not gone the way we wanted (…), we finally decided that 2024 would be the time to change things, both for Yamaha and for Franky”, has said Lin Jarvis, quoted in a separate statement announcing the Italian driver’s departure.
Morbidelli, 28, who has been racing in the premier class of motorcycle speed since 2018, joined the ranks of Yamaha’s factory team mid-season 2021, replacing Spaniard Maverick Vinales, whose contract with the stable had been broken.
Before that, the Moto2 world champion in 2017 had played his first season in the premier class on the handlebars of a Honda with the Marc VDS team.
He then joined in 2019 alongside Quartararo Yamaha’s satellite team, Petronas, in which he remained for two and a half years. In 2020, he had signed his best season in MotoGP by finishing vice-world champion behind the Spaniard Joan Mir.
For the time being, the Italian no longer has a handlebar for 2024.