The WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team is off to Asia

21-09-2022

The WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team is off to Asia

Darryn Binder and Cal Crutchlow are eager to start the flyaway races this weekend at the Motegi circuit in Japan.

Fresh off from the Aragon GP, the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team is starting the oversea rounds this weekend highly motivated. After having not been able to race in Japan due to the pandemic in the last two years, the entire crew and both, Darryn Binder and Cal Crutchlow are excited to be back at the Twin Ring Motegi.

After he struggled with tyre wear from halfway distance of the race in Misano, premier class rookie Binder has been working hard with his team to improve. The South African made some obvious steps in the right direction at round 15 in Aragon and is eager to build up on that progress this weekend. At the same time, he is thrilled to race his Yamaha YZR-M1 for the first time on Japanese ground.

Meanwhile Crutchlow arrives with a slight advantage, as he has been testing in Motegi recently, yet he’ll be using a different bike this weekend for his second time back in Grand Prix racing after one year. The Yamaha test rider, who is taking over the WithU Yamaha RNF machine for the remainder of this season, counts Motegi to one of his favorite circuits, and is therefore delighted to return to action there this week.

Due to the short time to get all the freight from Aragon to Japan, the weekend will just start at 15:05 local time (08:05 CET) with a 75 minutes Free Practice one on Friday, which is the only session on day one.

Cal Crutchlow

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team

“It will be good to go back to Motegi after three years I haven’t been racing there. Motegi is a circuit, that I like. I like to go to Japan in general, so it will be great for the MotoGP paddock to go back. After the race in Aragon I look forward to get back on track this weekend and hopefully we can have another positive weekend. We’ve made a good step from the start of the Aragon weekend and hopefully this time, we can make another one. I’m looking forward to get there.”

Darryn Binder

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team

“I’m really excited to get to Motegi. I felt like we’ve made some small steps during the last weekend in Aragon and towards the end of the race, we’ve been better off than what we were in Misano, so we want to keep trying to build on that. I can’t wait to ride in Japan, it’s also cool that nobody has been there for the last couple of years, so it will be really nice to ride all those tracks again and to start the flyaway races.”

Razlan Razali

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Racing Team, Founder and Team Principal

“Motegi marks the start of the first overseas round, a destination, we haven’t been in recent years due to Covid. Therefore, we are really looking forward to go to Japan, followed by Thailand. We know these places have been some fantastic destinations for MotoGP racing. After Japan and Thailand, we take a small break before we go to Australia and Malaysia, destinations and race tracks, we haven’t visited since the start of the pandemic and we look forward to be there.”

Wilco Zeelenberg

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team, Team Manager

“I think Motegi is one of the favorite tracks of Cal. Obviously, we have quite a special weekend coming up, as there’s a typhoon coming and we already know we are not allowed to start working at the track on Wednesday, so it’s Thursday build up and Friday morning build up as well because Friday afternoon we have only one hour and 15 minutes of practice. That is of course not in the favor of Darryn, as he needs all the track time there is. Yet it could benefit Cal, because he was testing there a couple of weeks ago with the test team and hopefully he can continue where he stopped last Sunday and will be able to get some good results in Japan.”