Long serving Yamaha MotoGP team boss Lin Jarvis has confirmed his plans to step down at the conclusion of the current campaign.
Lin Jarvis made the announcement over the Grand Prix of the Americas weekend that he will be quitting his role at the Yamaha MotoGP team after the 2024 season.
Over the last 26 years, Jarvis has been a part of Yamaha’s racing division, and he played a major role in assisting the Japanese manufacturer to regain dominance in the mid-2000s.
Working closely with current Trackhouse Aprilla boss Davide Brivio, the two were instrumental in getting Valentino Rossi to join the squad when he was winning championships at Honda. Yamaha won the championships in 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009 with Rossi leading the way. Then, Jorge Lorenzo came along and won in 2010, 2012, and 2015.
Jarvis’s most recent triumph came from Fabio Quartararo, who won his maiden championship in 2021 and recently committed to Yamaha by signing a multi-year contract extension. His title came after a period of dominance for Marc Marquez and Honda, who won six of the seven possible titles between 2013 and 2019.
His next goal is to negotiate a deal with an independent team so as to reclaim the satellite structure that Yamaha relinquished when it decided not to extend its contract with RNF through 2023.
“This will be my last season at Yamaha, I will quit at the end of the year,” Jarvis said on Thursday at the Americas Grand Prix. “I will decide later what I’m going to do, what I will dedicate my time to.”
“I started the factory team in 1999. It has been an unusually long period. I’m 66 years old now and I’m starting to get a little tired of travelling.
“I’ve been doing this for 26 years, and it’s quite extraordinary for the same person to lead a project, in a factory, for such a long period.
“The time has come to do something new. It’s the ideal time to make this transition. We have to be able to close my chapter and start the new one, in harmony. That is the best solution for both parties.
“We have already identified the candidate who will most likely become my successor, although it has not yet been made official. But it will be a man from the Yamaha group, who will take over my position in January next year.”
Although the manufacturer is reluctant to disclose the identity of his successor, Motorsport.com reported that Paolo Pavessio, who is currently the director of Yamaha Europe’s marketing and racing department, has been regarded as the perfect replacement by the brand’s executive committee.
The Italian has a strong connection to racing and is frequently spotted in Yamaha’s motocross and WorldSBK events.
