CAPE TOWN – In an interesting podcast, Yamaha Motorsport boss Lin Jarvis has revealed what the team look for when choosing their MotoGP drivers.
On their books, Yamaha have seven-time MotoGP champion, Valentino Rossi, widely regarded as one of the greatest racers in all of motorsport.
One of the topics Jarvis delved into in the podcast was how Yamaha pick out the talent they want in their premier class team.
Jarvis admitted he wasn’t “a genius” at picking out young riders, like Repsol Honda Team Manager Alberto Puig, but he and Yamaha had a different philosophy.
“I’m not a genius at picking out young riders, I’m not a guy who can spot a kid at 13 coming through. If you want to speak about someone like that then maybe look at Alberto Puig.
He’s a good example of someone who is technically sharp as an ex rider, who brought up some successful riders. But that’s not my forte, or my skill,” said Jarvis.
“What I look for, we tend to look at the stage just before MotoGP, so Moto2 level and early MotoGP career. Talented riders, fast riders, motivated and passionate riders. There are many but the number that become World Champions are very few.
“Jorge [Lorenzo] was one of the good ones in that sense. Because he was, when he was in 250s, we signed him early because we could see it.
“He had that burning passion, desire to win. That’s, a lot of riders are very talented but few have that plus alpha, that extra touch that you’re really looking for. How do you identify it? It’s difficult to say but you can feel it, you can sense it.”
IOL Motoring