Quote:
Originally Posted by Latebraker
Honda is already in trouble with too many riders for the Repsol team, and what is your source for claiming that there is a dispute over money?
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Quote MotoMatters:
With the highest-profile moves all officially confirmed, MotoGP's Silly Season is
starting to run out of steam. The big surprises are out of the way, and we are
left with just over half the seats still unfilled. But even for the unsigned rides,
names have already been penciled in, some rather more firmly than others.
The two big names still waiting to put their signatures under contracts are
surely Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo's Brazilian manager is said to
be playing hardball with Yamaha, trying to extract the best possible conditions
out of the Japanese factory now that the sales powerhouse Valentino Rossi
has left Yamaha to go to Ducati. Rumors of a 14 million euro salary demand
are unconfirmed, but with Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica likely to take on
sponsorship of the Yamaha squad, Lorenzo might be expected to earn that in
sponsorship by allying his selling power to the Telefonica brand.
Ironically, Lorenzo's bargaining position is strengthened by his arch rival Dani
Pedrosa. Pedrosa has still not renewed his contract with Repsol Honda, with
the bone of contention the development efforts to be focused on HRC's
RC212V MotoGP bike. Pedrosa's third win of the season - his most ever in a
single year - will ease those negotiations, but as long as Pedrosa has not
signed, Lorenzo has at least the pretense of an alternative to renew his own
contract with Yamaha. The converse is also true, of course: While Lorenzo
continues to hold out for a better deal from Yamaha, Pedrosa is also a
candidate for that seat, and can use that as a bargaining chip with Honda.
Quote MCN:
Jorge Lorenzo confirmed in Misano today that he will try and make some
headway this weekend into solving the contract issues that have seen him fail
to agree a new factory Yamaha deal for 2011.
The 23-year-old recently told MCN that negotiations were locked in stalemate
when he said: “I'm very good in Yamaha and I know the bike and the bike is
now competitive.
"In theory the possibility to stay in Yamaha is the highest possibility but at
the moment everything is possible. Now the situation is a little frozen but I
hope that this chapter can be closed before the end of the year."
The stumbling block in clinching a deal appears to be Yamaha’s reluctance to
meet Lorenzo’s wage demands, with the 2010 MotoGP title favourite
demanding a big salary increase following Valentino Rossi’s departure to Ducati.
Yamaha remains confident a deal for the double world 250GP champion will be
signed imminently, given Lorenzo has little option but to ride a factory YZR-M1
next season.
Compatriot Dani Pedrosa has not yet signed a new deal with Honda’s official
factory team but a new deal is close to being confirmed.
Lorenzo, who leads Pedrosa by 68-points going into Sunday’s Misano clash,
said: “My manager Marcos (Hirsch) is coming to Misano this weekend to speak
with Yamaha. I hope we can have a solution now in the next few weeks.”
San Marina results ***SPOILER***
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