MotoGP: Maverick Vinales to partner Valentino Rossi at Yamaha

With Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo moving to Ducati at the end of the current season, Yamaha has signed on the plucky young Spaniard to partner the nine-time World Champion for the next two MotoGP seasons

It is again time for a round of musical chairs in MotoGP as the top athletes in the world’s most prestigious two-wheeled sport pick their teams and (re)negotiate contracts, all in a bid to move up the leaderboards come racing season. So far, the biggest sensation from this quarter has been Jorge Lorenzo announcing his departure from the factory Yamaha team to Ducati after the end of the 2016 season. Lorenzo’s imminent departure – at least for a period of two years, the length of his contract with the Italian manufacturer – has forced Yamaha to be on the lookout for their second rider, someone who could partner MotoGP heartthrob and nine-time World Champion, Valentino Rossi.

Now, the tuning fork team has found its second rider in Maverick Vinales, the 21-year old Spaniard who currently rides for the factory Suzuki team. Vinales made his World Championship debut with the 125cc class in 2011 and took his first championship title in 2013 in the Moto3 class. The talented upstart has also been crowned the ‘Rookie of the Year’ three time in 2011 (125cc), 2014 (Moto2) and in 2015 (MotoGP).

While Yamaha maintains that Vinales was always their top choice to replace Lorenzo, there were rumours that the Japanese company was also wooing Dani Pedrosa from Honda. However, Honda successfully managed to retain Pedrosa for the next two years, announcing the renewal of his contract just last week.

Meanwhile, Ducati signing Lorenzo and renewing Andrea Dovizioso’s contract for the next two years left Andrea Iannone to find refuge in the seat vacated by Vinales at Suzuki. Suzuki is yet to confirm its second rider for the 2017 season but Aleix Espargaro is likely to stay on with the team.

Here’s how the top four teams in the 2017 MotoGP season tentatively looks like:

Yamaha: Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales

Honda: Marc Marques and Dani Pedrosa

Ducati: Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso

Suzuki: Andrea Iannone and Aleix Espargaro (unconfirmed)