The Blue Shift: An Overview of Yamaha Factory Racing's 2025 MotoGP Plans
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Copyright 2024 Yamaha Motor Racing Srl
Today, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (YMC) and Yamaha Motor Racing Srl (YMR) used the grand occasion of the 2025 Yamaha MotoGP Launch Event to proudly present their new MotoGP strategic model, which entails a closer work relationship between the Japan-based Yamaha headquarters and the Italy-based MotoGP dedicated company.
The 2025 mid-term plan underlines the importance of 'joint leadership' and global talents to make sure that the best resources are available while tackling challenges and opportunities with Yamaha's 'Spirit of Challenge' mindset. The mid-term plan is designed to further aid bike development, nurture talent, and finally strengthen Yamaha's performance in MotoGP thanks to increased synergies between all involved parties, creating a shared 'Blue Shift' vision.
Looking forward, Yamaha Motor Company's Motor Sports Division and Yamaha Motor Racing will share the responsibility of Yamaha's MotoGP Project, including technical development, thus enhancing their synergies to secure a closer work relationship between the two entities. The strategy also warrants a strong collaboration between Yamaha and new addition and key player Pramac Racing.
The ‘joint-leadership’ key value is reflected in Yamaha Motor Racing's organisational structure: in 2025, President Takahiro Sumi and Managing Director Paolo Pavesio will be at the helm of Yamaha Motor Racing. On the Track Operations side, Sumi-san and Pavesio will be overseeing the work of Project Leader Kazuhiro Masuda, who in turn will be working closely together with Technical Director Max Bartolini and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Director Maio Meregalli.
On the Support side, carried out at the Gerno di Lesmo headquarters, Paolo Pavesio will be leading Sport Manager Maio Meregalli, Engineering Manager Michele Gadda, and Marketing and Communications Manager William Favero, with the valuable support of Senior Advisor Lin Jarvis.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team is again represented by Team Director Maio Meregalli and riders Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins, while the equipe introduces Paolo Pavesio as their new Team Principal this year.
Team Principal Paolo Campinoti and Team Director Gino Borsoi will be managing the Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Team, with Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira in their rider line-up. The team and riders will have factory status and can count on Yamaha Motor Company's and Yamaha Motor Racing's full support. This second Factory team will also be sharing data and working closely together with the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team to boost data gathering and YZR-M1 bike development.
Additionally, Yamaha and Pramac will debut a Moto2 team: the BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2 Team. The introduction of BLU CRU to the MotoGP paddock is a crucial final part in Yamaha's BLU CRU talent development programme. BLU CRU is the foundation of Yamaha's racing pyramid, which is designed to cultivate the next generation of young riding talent in both road and off-road racing, with the premier classes in MotoGP, WorldSBK, and MXGP as its destination.
By entering the BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2 Team into the MotoGP intermediate class, the BLU CRU programme tops off the step-up strategy for hundreds of Yamaha riders, who can now aspire to the intermediate class of the MotoGP World Championship.
The new Moto2 squad is led by Team Principal Paolo Campinoti, Team Director Gino Borsoi, and Team Manager Alex De Angelis, who will steer riders Tony Arbolino and Izan Guevara.
The six Yamaha MotoGP and Moto2 riders (Fabio Quartararo, Álex Rins, Jack Miller, Miguel Oliveira, Tony Arbolino, and Izan Guevara) are all directly signed by Yamaha Motor Company as factory riders.
The two MotoGP teams will occasionally be joined on track by the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Test Team, composed of Team Manager Kazutoshi Seki and riders Augusto Fernandez and Cal Crutchlow. However, as Crutchlow is currently unfit to perform his testing duties, the Test Team will have Andrea Dovizioso offering his expert experience and services to help with the YZR-M1 development.
To express the connection between the two Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP teams, the bikes' liveries and the team logo designs have been aligned to visualize a shared Yamaha brand identity and reflect the cooperation and harmony between the companies, teams, and riders.
The BLU CRU programme and its objectives and values lie at the heart of the new Moto2 team, therefore BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2 required individual aesthetics and visual identity, including the new BLU CRU logo.
Takahiro Sumi
General Manager, Motor Sports Development Division
Paolo Pavesio
Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Racing
"Our goal is clear: Yamaha want to be back on top – just like everyone, be it in racing or business – but what sets us apart is how we've chosen to get there. Our strategy is rooted in 'joint leadership' - an approach that leverages the diversity we have within our global teams in Japan and Italy. Our commitment to be back on top of MotoGP brought us, naturally, to implement a new working model that does not move MotoGP to Italy but instead lets the best European resources work together with the best Japanese resources.
"In 2025 we will have two Yamaha Factory Racing Teams in MotoGP working closely together. We didn't just need 'a second team', we needed 'the best team': our new partner Pramac Racing.
"The Yamaha-Pramac set-up is different: Pramac is not a satellite team, instead they are a 'partner' whose contribution is crucial to achieving our shared objectives. Pramac is fully committed to being a key player in Yamaha's comeback to the top in MotoGP, and we believe they will help us to speed up the process.
"YMR's and YMC's shared values: teamwork, the 'Spirit of Challenge', and our passion for motorsports drive us towards a shared target – to provide the best possible package to our two factory MotoGP teams and four factory riders, giving them the tools to fight for the victory as soon as possible. There was no better way to express this new relationship than to design a logo that visually represents the association between those involved in the MotoGP Project.
"Yamaha is also pleased to present a new team in the intermediate class: the BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2 team. This is a corporate project of great importance because it not only strengthens Yamaha's presence in the MotoGP paddock, but beyond that, the BLU CRU concept is now officially incorporated in Yamaha's MotoGP operations.
"The BLU CRU programme has come to full fruition. Young talent now know they can aspire to the intermediate class of the MotoGP World Championship based on their talent and racing results in whatever level of championship they participate in, be it world, continental or national."
Paolo Campinoti
Team Principal, Pramac Racing
“In every person’s or company’s life, there comes a time to take a new path in search of fresh challenges and inspiration. For us, that moment begins now, with the birth of the Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP team. This marks the beginning of our journey as a second Factory Team for a manufacturer that has made the history of our sport, as we prepare to face the upcoming seasons of the MotoGP World Championship.
“Being selected as a partner by Yamaha is the confirmation of the hard work our team has put in over the past few seasons. We’ve grown from a junior team into one capable of competing for and winning world titles. Four consecutive years as the best independent team, and most notably, the 2023 MotoGP Team World Championship and the 2024 MotoGP Riders World Championship, are testament to our abilities and professionalism. These successes now position us for an even higher status as we enter the 2025 season.
"Yamaha is demonstrating a strong commitment to returning to the top of motorcycling, as evidenced by the improved performance in the final races of the last World Championship. The opportunity to double our efforts on the track will help us close the gap more quickly. The deep and open collaboration at every level, along with the shared vision we’ve started to develop in these early weeks, fills me with optimism for the future."
"Yamaha Motor Company has always been fully dedicated to its racing projects. Just a few days after the company was founded in 1955, a Yamaha motorcycle was entered in the third Mount Fuji Ascent Race and won. 1961 saw our first entry in a Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix, and our first GP win was sealed in 1963. Yamaha has remained a key player in world-class road racing ever since.
"However, after we won the Title in 2021, the MotoGP championship's competition level evolved quite quickly, and we have found it necessary to adapt and innovate. Yamaha is a global company with its roots in Japan, but over the course of the last year, we have understood that to win in a global challenge like MotoGP you need to leverage your talents wherever they are. We now have a more diverse team: we're mixing Japanese and European talent to create a stronger package to bring us back to where we should be. We have different people working together based on shared values. We call it 'joint-leadership'.
"In 2024, Yamaha has accelerated bike development, and for 2025 Yamaha has expanded its MotoGP programme even more through the addition of a new partner, Pramac. With our new mid-term strategy focused on development and fielding three factory teams in two classes, 2025 will be a very exciting year for Yamaha.
"2025 is also a historically significant year for us: on the 1st of July, we celebrate our 70th anniversary. It is an important milestone. The festivities that we have planned are still under embargo, but the fans can definitely expect us to pay homage to our extensive racing heritage, since it is also in our past that we find the energy and motivation to relaunch our challenge for the future.
"Yamaha has accomplished many successes and shown adaptability over the course of its journey so far. We will keep pushing the limits as much as we did when the company first started, and we look forward to sharing more and more good memories with MotoGP fans."