Ramón Forcada is one of the most experienced technicians in the World Championship, which he reached in 1986, having since surpassed half a thousand grand prizes. His most glorious time came with Jorge Lorenzo, on Yamaha , with whom he won three world championships in the premier class.
After working for two seasons with Maverick Viñales, in 2018 they parted ways after a complicated relationship that ended with the coach at the satellite team Petronas , along with Franco Morbidelli.
From the outside, it had always given the impression that Frankie and Ramón were able to build a very special connection, citing the pilot on several occasions to Forcada as one of the keys to their success.
However, Morbidelli made the jump to the official team in the middle of last September and did not take the coach with him, who has remained in the satellite team working with Andrea Dovizioso.
Motorsport.com had the opportunity to hold an exclusive interview with Ramón Forcada, in which he openly asked him if he would have liked to continue alongside the #21 in his new adventure with the official Yamaha team.
“Yes, of course I would have liked it,” the 64-year-old veteran admitted.
“But it’s not essential either,” he added. “There are a series of customer relationships, a team that pays, a thousand favors involved and in the end it has been a political issue,” he says.
“When Valentino (Rossi) arrived at this team, he brought many of his people who have left with him, now a new rider (Darryn Binder) comes and everything changes again, with a chief mechanic who comes from Moto2. If I had leaving would have left them quite pissed off, and what Yamaha will not do is go and harm a team that pays for the bikes more than necessary”, Forcada justifies staying in the satellite formation.
In any case, the Japanese manufacturer and the re-founded WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team have signed for just one year, leaving Forcada in a bit of a shaky situation. “I don’t know, nor does it worry me,” assumes the technician.
Although Morbidelli initially asked Yamaha to continue counting on Forcada in his new stage, the truth is that the Italian did not insist too much or force the situation.
“Frankie this year had a contract here (Petronas) and now he is there (Yamaha), and this is in exchange for something,” he leaves in the air.
A change from one team to another that Yamaha achieved very easily, like the previous year with Fabio Quartararo, an ease that it did not have when it came to ‘claiming’ Forcada.
“It’s a balance. The fact that Fabio left last year went very well for them because he took people with him and they could make room for those who arrived with Rossi. If he hadn’t taken anyone, those people added to those who arrived new , would have created a complicated situation. Each case is different”, says Forcada, who next season will continue with the RNF MotoGP Team alongside Dovizioso.
This is how a starting grid would look after the MotoGP test in Jerez
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