Emotional final round for Tech3
MotoGP world championships season comes to an end at the final round in Valencia this weekend, it will be an emotional race for Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah’s team Monster Yamaha Tech3.
It will be Tech3’s last race with Yamaha after 20 seasons with the Japanese manufacturer as they make the switch to KTM machinery next season.
Tech3 team principal Herve Poncharal hopes the team will end the season and their partnership with Yamaha on a high at Valencia, where their rider Johann Zarco finished second last year.
“Valencia is always a very special race at the end of season. Sure, everybody wants to end up on a high note,” said Poncharal.
“Last year we had a dream weekend with Johann being so strong in the race, having led for most of it and fighting with Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.
“We had a great result, but also a little bitter feeling not to finally win that race.
“It has been an honour for us, a great journey, we managed some fantastic achievements and although it’s our decision to move and change, this will obviously be an emotional race for us.
“Clearly without Yamaha, Tech3 wouldn’t be what it is now. We helped each other for sure, I always say that success comes through stability and this is shown by our relationship with Yamaha.”
Hafizh is currently 16th in the overall standings and second in the fight for the Rookie of the Year title, 10 points adrift of Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS).