Crash.net understands that, in a surprise move, former Honda Pons sponsor Camel is currently in contention to become the new title sponsor of the Factory Yamaha Team, for the 2006 MotoGP season.
The 2005 world championship winning team, due to again field reigning five-times MotoGP title winner Valentino Rossi and his Texan team-mate Colin Edwards, is presently without a sponsor following an acrimonious split with Gauloises.
Meanwhile, Camel quit both Pons and Honda following HRC's refusal to supply Max Biaggi with machinery for 2006 and has been "considering a series of alternatives" after failing to find the Roman any form of MotoGP seat.
One of those alternatives is naturally at Yamaha's number one team - a move which makes great sense for Camel, in terms of generating maximum publicity, but which has until now seemed almost impossible.
After all, although the reasons behind the Yamaha/Gauloises split are still to be revealed, they are reported to centre around Rossi either a) refusing to ride in tobacco branding or b) wanting to avoid a potential clash with the Marlboro livery he will sport during Ferrari F1 tests.
Add to that the warning from Gauloises that "Yamaha is still bound by a legal obligation that prevents Yamaha from collaborating with sponsors whose products compete directly with the Gauloises brand or with Altadis products for the 2006 season (unless a settlement is reached)" and few would suggest a Camel/Yamaha collaboration.
By contrast, an agreement with the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha team would be hassle free - but, whilst Camel is understood to have initially spoken with Tech 3, sources within the MotoGP paddock insist that discussions with Herve Poncharal's team have ended and that Camel is chasing - and may have already secured - the factory Yamaha deal.
Whether a deal has or will be concluded, and whether it will include Rossi (although 'The Doctor' always did like yellow... and is unlikely to shed a tear at taking Biaggi's sponsor), will be revealed when Yamaha officially announces full details of its 2006 MotoGP programme later this month.
Yamaha Factory Racing joins forces with JTI and CAMEL
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announces the start of a new partnership with JT International (JTI), a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco Inc., whose brand CAMEL will become the new title sponsor of Yamaha's Factory MotoGP Team for 2006.
The Yamaha Factory MotoGP Team, consisting of reigning-World Champion Valentino Rossi and his team-mate Colin Edwards, will be known as the "Camel Yamaha Team" in 2006.
Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Lin Jarvis commented "Yamaha is very excited to enter into this new partnership with JTI. JTI has been involved in motorsport at the highest level for many years and has been an active sponsor at the top level in the MotoGP class for the past three seasons. We look forward to working with JTI to enhance the respective images of our brands and to challenge together for victory, as Yamaha enters its "next 50 years" and aims to retain its MotoGP titles in 2006."
"A new chapter in the history of Camel in motorsport is just beginning", commented Roberto Zanni, JTI's Regional President for Europe, "After three years of great satisfaction in the premier class of the World Road Racing Championship, we are today launching a new challenge for the title. Our new partnership with Yamaha, the historic, championship-winning Japanese manufacturer, will be highly motivating for us and it will be an honour to be by their side throughout the 2006 season. We share the same passion and desire for victory and, I am sure, success will not be long in coming."
The Camel Yamaha Team will begin its 2006 campaign in Sepang, Malaysia with a three-day test on 23rd, 24th and 25th January.
Et oui, apparament c'est officiel maintenant, toutes mes felicitations au Docteur Pognon, qui a fait sa mijorée pour ne plus rouler avec Gauloise et qui part avec Camel, diminuant de surcroit le nombre de pilotes...
Un grand de la moto a disparu...Bienvenue a Vale le biz biz... vivement qu'il se barre en formule 1 celui là, il y a maintenat sa place...
09/01/2006, 08h49
Adieu Norick...
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