With the divorce papers already filed between BE1 ParkinGO Racing and Triumph we can officially announce that the Italian team’s new squeeze, guess what, will be Yamaha.
Yamaha will be returning to the grid with BE1 Racing after their factory team Yamaha World Supersport Teampulled out at the end of 2009 after winning the WSS title with Cal Crutchlow due to lack of budget.
Yamaha had been in talks to both Parkalgar Honda and Triumph BE1 team to take over their effort before the pullout, and now one season later, BE1 Racing has taken up the offer with just 10 days of negotiations.
The mutual press release states the following: Yamaha Motor Europe will provide the 2009 championship winning Yamaha R6 race bikes along with Yamaha genuine racing parts to the privately owned ParkinGO Team, for 2011 to be named Yamaha ParkinGO Team.
The race bikes will be refreshed and bought up to 2011 level at Yamaha’s racing workshop in Germany before being delivered.
Yamaha technical staff will provide behind the scenes support on an ongoing basis throughout the season while the team itself will take responsibility for organization, rider selection and race entry.
The Yamaha ParkinGO Team will continue partnerships with some of its own technical partners, although Yamaha Motor Europe will also support negotiations with it’s former technical partners and the team for the season ahead.
“This is a great opportunity for officially supported R6 machinery to return to the World Supersport Championship,” said Yamaha Motor Europe Racing Manager Laurens Klein Koerkamp.
“The R6 is a winning machine which, after taking the World Supersport Championship in 2009, has continued in 2010 with many national titles alongside the European Superstock 600 Championship title, despite not competing at world level.
It is our belief and our vision that in today’s circumstances supporting a private team with the materials needed to compete is the appropriate involvement in World Supersport for a manufacturer.
I have known Giuliano for a few years now; in the past we could not find the possibility to do something together.
The respect for each other has continued however and when the opportunity became available we were able to come to an agreement within a very short time.
It is definitely a challenge to start at this late stage with the preparations, but the team and riders are professional and they will have full access to our information database for setup to progress quickly into the season.
We consider the test in Portimao this week mainly as a shakedown for both bike and riders.
” “We managed to reach a mutually satisfying agreement with Yamaha Motor Europe in just ten days time,” said Giuliano Rovelli, Yamaha ParkinGO Team owner.
“Having the opportunity to work with a manufacturer that has racing in its philosophy makes a big difference.
I shared this important decision with the whole team.
Chaz Davies and Luca Scassa are professional riders and are looking forward to having the chance to win the World Supersport Championship with a very competitive Yamaha R6!”