Straight from Yamaha’s winning Supersport team with Cal Crutchlow, Wilco Zeelenberg has been confirmed as Daniele Romagnoli’s replacement and will be Jorge Lorenzo’s new Team Manager.
Zeelenberg, a former Gran Prix and Supersport rider, before joining Yamaha Motor Europe as a Technical Coordinator and test rider and in 2008 took over the role of Team Manager in Yamaha’s World Supersport Team.
With the appointment of Zeelenberg, Lorenzo’s side of the garage is almost complete after loosing Romagnoli to Tech3 Moto2 and Andrea Zugna, Cristian Battaglia and Carlo Luzzi to Honda HRC.
Takashi Moriyawa who comes directly from Yamaha Motor Racing will be one of the engineers, while Lorenzo’s telemetry analyst has yet to be confirmed, but it could be Davide Morelli.
Lin Jarvis, Managing Director for Yamaha Motor Racing Srl:“I would like to congratulate Wilco on his appointment and wish him every success in his new challenge.
I am confident that the Team and Jorge will benefit from Wilco’s long experience as a rider, a Yamaha racing technician and more recently as a successful Team Manager.
We look forward to integrating him into the Fiat Yamaha Team working alongside Davide Brivio, both Team Managers being under the supervision of Team Director Masahiko Nakajima.
”Wilco Zeelenberg:“After nine years working for Yamaha I am very proud to be joining the official Yamaha MotoGP team.
“It’s a big reward and I am very excited about this new challenge.
Jorge is a fantastic rider and I cannot wait to start working with him and the crew.
The team is already a well-oiled machine and I am thrilled to be fitting into it.
It’s clear that there are four main contenders for the title and Jorge is one of those four.
I am a very competitive person, I will do everything I can in the team to create the right atmosphere and fight for the championship title.
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