Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo has signed a new 2 year deal to stay with the FIAT Yamaha squad for 2011. The young Spaniard joined the team in 2008 and has spent years becoming a dominant force in MotoGP, winning 7 races this season and looks on track to take his maiden MotoGP World Champion crown.He will be joined next year by current Monster Yamaha Tech3 rookie Ben Spies.
The news was broken by Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing. “We are extremely happy that we have reached an agreement with Jorge to remain a Factory Yamaha rider for 2011 and 2012.”
” Since he joined three years ago he has made great progress and has improved himself every year to go from fourth place and 'best rookie’ in 2008, to second place in 2009, to challenging for the MotoGP championship title in 2010. I am particularly pleased to finally get the agreement in place here in Japan because it will now enable Jorge to focus all of his efforts and concentration in the coming weeks to try to secure his first MotoGP class rider’s title. Being only 23 years old I believe Jorge has a long career ahead of him and hopefully he can win many world titles with Yamaha.
“Jorge will be joined by Ben Spies in the Factory Team next year and with these two exceptionally talented hungry young riders we will start the 2011 season with the most exciting and competitive team in the paddock.”
For Lorenzo, there was no-one else he would have signed for. “My first choice was always to stay here with Yamaha and I am very glad that this will happen.”
“I feel happy here; I have good people around me, a strong relationship with Yamaha and a great bike. I want to say thanks again to Lin Jarvis, who has always supported me. Now we are focused on winning the championship but I am already excited about next season. I know that Ben and I can do a great job for Yamaha and I want to thank them for their belief in me.”