Most rider contracts end December 31, but riders are usually released immediately after the final race so they can begin testing their new bikes.
One exception was Valentino Rossi.
Honda HRC at the end of 2003 refused to release him early to test and it looks like Yamaha is heading in the same direction.
Valentino Rossi in an interview after Monday’s Brno test said: “I expect that Yamaha will let me try the Ducati in Valencia, because our story is a different story, and I give more to Yamaha from 2004 to now, I improve a lot the bike and all the team, so if they are fair, they have to say yes for my test in Valencia.
” The so called gentlemen’s agreement where Rossi instead of announcing his switch to Ducati at Laguna Seca, because the US is one of Yamaha’s key markets and making it a Brno should have guaranteed that the Italian would be allowed to test the Ducati Desmosedici GP11 at Valencia, however Masao Furusawa, Executive Officer of Engineering Operations at Yamaha speaking to motogp.
com from Brno has indicated however that this is now unlikely due to contractual agreements.
In another interview last night with Italia 1’s Studio Sport Rossi after learning what Furusawa had said, stated that he hoped that the Japanese manager would change his mind.
The love affair between Rossi and Furusawa is truly over.
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