YAMAHA FACTORY RACING EUROPEAN TEST TEAM READY TO COMMENCE 2019 PROGRAMME

Yamaha Factory Racing‘s European test team will start its 2019 mission at the upcoming Official IRTA Valencia Test, held from November 20th – 21st at the Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana – Ricardo Tormo.

Valencia (Spain), 19th November 2018

Besides Movistar Yamaha MotoGP and newly formed Yamaha satellite team, the Sepang International Circuit Racing Team, a third garage will be equipped with YZR-M1 machines at the Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana – Ricardo Tormo on November 20th – 21st.

The third Yamaha pit box will be occupied by the Yamaha Factory Racing European Test Team with rider Jonas Folger, who makes his return to the MotoGP premier class as Yamaha‘s new test rider. Following his one-year absence, the 25-year old German is the perfect man for the testing job, as he already got familiar with the YZR-M1 at the end of 2016 and throughout the 2017 season, when he was riding for the Monster Yamaha Tech3 satellite team.

LIN JARVIS

MANAGING DIRECTOR, YAMAHA MOTOR RACING

It is no secret that Yamaha has had a challenging season in 2018. Though we made progress towards the end, we are convinced that the extra support from a European test team will be greatly beneficial to the development process of the YZR-M1.

Jonas Folger will be Yamaha’s new European MotoGP test rider and he will start his duties here in Valencia during the official IRTA Test. We are very pleased to welcome him back to Yamaha‘s MotoGP programme. Jonas showed great skill and excellent speed when he was a Yamaha satellite rider in 2017. His past experience with the YZR-M1, as well as his youth and drive, will surely make him a great asset to our 2019 campaign.

We look forward to having him working closely with our four MotoGP-class riders and our development engineers to further improve the YZR-M1.