Jonas Folger was to ride for MZ Racing this season, but since the German ended up with budget troubles due to the bankruptcy of a parts suppliers and he was relegated to the role of test and substitute rider.
Over the past weeks rumors had it that the young German rider had something going Racing Team Germany (they are fielding Louis Rossi) however out of the blue yesterday Dorna’s reporter Azi Farni tweeted that Folger had found a place with IodaRacing Project Moto3 team (and confirmed on the official MotoGP Moto3 teams page).
Apparently Folger was able to get the ride as Team Italia (riders Romano Fenati and Alessandro Tonucci) run under the Italian FIM banner will no longer be fielding the Ioda TR002s and have opted for the FTR/Honda, thus freeing up two bikes.
News from Italy say that the reason that Team Italia has dropped Gianpiero Sacchi’s machines was based on the lack of reliability and performance, and not enough time to correct the existing problems before the start of the Moto3 season, while Ioda Team Italia with Luigi Morciano will continue with same bike.