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Yamaha’s MotoGP Team Still Without A Title Sponsor

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After winning the MotoGP Triple Crown: The Rider, Team, and Manufacturer Championships, the factory Yamaha team finds itself in a difficult position looking for a title sponsor for next year. After Valentino Rossi’s departure to Ducati Corse for the 2011 season, Fiat, the team’s sponsor from 2007 until recently, dropped the Yamaha squad after its loss of the Italian rider (Fiat had long been associated with Yamaha because of the company’s desire to woo Rossi into the Ferrari Formula 1 team…that and the Italian helps sell the Italian made cars).

Perhaps under-appreciating the value of having Rossi on board a Yamaha bike in 2011, the tuning fork brand has now been left scrambling for a marquis name to help foot the bills for the next season. Despite having the reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and Rookie of the Year Ben Spies, deals with Petronas, Telefonica, and AirAsia have failed to materialize, despite lengthy rumor, meaning Yamaha’s corporate Blue/White livery might be spotted in Qatar (something reserved usually for non-sponsored wild card riders).

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AMG Sponsoring Ducati MotoGP Team

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Announced last night at the L.A. Auto Show, Ducati and AMG (Mercedes-Benz’s tuning house) have formed a partnership between the two brands the will first manifest itself by having the German car tuner sponsoring the Italian company’s MotoGP team. Rumored for over a month now, this announcement finally puts to bed the speculation that Fiat would sponsor Ducati now that Valentino Rossi has joined the Rosso Corse team, and is also the first official sponsorship announcement for Ducati Corse’s 2011 season.

With Rossi healing his wounds back in Italy, Nicky Hayden was on hand for the event with a Ducati Diavel and Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG on stage with him. Asked what he thought about the partnership, Hayden replied, “Well, if this is my company bike and this is my company car, I’d say I’m doing pretty well.” We’d tend to agree.

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Larry Pegram Says Ciao to Ducati

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Larry Pegram announced today that he will not be riding a Ducati in the AMA American Superbike series. Pegram initially put together the Team Foremost Insurance / Pegram Racing team in 2006 with the help of Ducati North America, and campaigned the Ducati 1198R Superbike last season to a fourth place Championship position. Pegram is expected to announce what bike he will campaign next week, with the idle gossip in the AMA paddock suggesting either a Suzuki or Kawasaki.

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Nicky Hayden Misses Sepang Pole by 0.1 Seconds

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Although Jorge Lorenzo may be on the pole position at Sepang where many expect that Spaniard to clinch the World Championship, the talk at the Malaysian GP right now is about Nicky Hayden. The American lead most of qualifying, and will start tomorrow second on the grid, after missing the pole spot by only a tenth of a second.

Hayden had an abysmal time last week at Motegi for the Japanese GP, and looked to be on a similar path this weekend, but the Ducati Corse team went back to a setting from testing last year, and Hayden was able to make up the rest of the distance himself.

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Video: Ducati Helps Xerox Sell Some Copiers

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Xerox essentially foots the bill for Ducati’s World Superbike racing adventures, so it’s not surprising that the company, whose name is synonymous with photocopying, would like to capitalize on that relationship. It’s hard to imagine how one can make an intriguing commercial about xeroxing some documents (see what we did there?), which may be why Rochester-based brand is involved with WSBK in the first place, as the company has tapped its relationship with Ducati to help sell some copy machines. The result is an actually semi-engaging ad, but we’re just not sure what Xerox is going to do next year. Video after the jump.

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Rossi Waiting to Hear if Burgess Will Retire

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Talking after the Indianapolis GP, Valentino Rossi explained that he is waiting to hear from Jeremy Burgess as to whether the Australian Crew Chief will retire next season. Assured of the fact that Burgess would not stay behind at Yamaha, and would not work with another rider, Rossi stated the buzz around whether Burgess would move with the Italian to Ducati, hinges as to when Burgess plans on retiring from motorcycle racing.

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Nicky Hayden Renews Contract with Ducati

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Under the lights of the Indy Mile, where motorcycle racing began for the Kentucky-born MotoGP racer, Nicky Hayden has signed a two-year contract with Ducati Corse for the 2011 & 2012 seasons. Not the biggest surprise in the paddock, Hayden’s contract renewal has never really been questioned this season as the American started the season off with series of strong finishes and continues to be a strong brand ambassador for Ducati in the United States.

Hayden will be joined the next two years by former teammate Valentino Rossi, the pair rode for Repsol Honda in 2003, with Hayden finishing the season 5th in his rookie GP season.

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Hayden/Ducati Announcement Expected at Indy

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The latest news to come out of Indianapolis this week should be painfully obvious for loyal MotoGP fans, but we have to cover it none-the-less. Expected to announce renewing his contract with Ducati Corse before Sunday’s race, Nicky Hayden will sure up his 2011 MotoGP placement in-front of a home crowd this weekend.

There really hasn’t been any doubt this year that Hayden would end up anywhere other than Ducati, especially the strong season the American has shown with a bevy of Top 5 finishes. As Ducati has now officially crossed-their-heart-hope-to-die signed Valentino Rossi for reals now (do you see what we did there?), it can announce its intentions with Hayden, and officially bow-out of the 2010 MotoGP Silly Season.

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Brivio to Leave Yamaha for Ducati?

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Now that Valentino Rossi has made his move to Ducati official, the only thing left to speculate upon is who will decide to join him at Ducati Corse. Most of this speculation surrounds Rossi’s Crew Chief, Jeremy Burgess, who many consider to be the man behind the man. However other familiar faces at Fiat-Yamaha could be jumping ship as well, namely Davide Brivio.

Brivio is Rossi’s Team Manager at Fiat-Yamaha (with the wall in the Fiat-Yamaha garage, Lorenzo has his own Team Manager, Wilco Zeelenberg), and if the Italian leaves Fiat-Yamaha along with Jeremy Burgess, the team will see a decisive blow in its talent pool.

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Valentino Rossi Goes to Ducati – Officially Official

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The worst kept secret in the paddock is finally official, thus completing what MotoGP fans (especially Italians) have been waiting for: Valentino Rossi signing with Ducati Corse. The nine-time World Champion and Italian celebrity is finally paired up with Italy’s most iconic motorcycling brand for the 2011 season, an action that has been the subject of intrigue not only for the better part of this season, but for years inside MotoGP.

Announcing their partnership today, Rossi and Ducati have their work cut out for them in taking-on impressive up-start Jorge Lorenzo and the formidable Yamaha YZR-M1. Press releases from Ducati & Fiat-Yamaha after the jump, along with a quote from Valentino himself.

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