Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis says he is “comfortable” with Fabio Quartararo joining the new Sepang-run Petronas Yamaha MotoGP team next year, as he confirmed the Frenchman's signing.
Quartararo emerged as a shock contender for the second satellite M1 following his debut grand prix victory in the Moto2 Catalan Grand Prix, with Jarvis confirming ahead of the official announcement the Petronas-backed team will field Quartararo alongside Franco Morbidelli.
The current Speed Up Moto2 rider came into Moto3 in 2015 off the back of two dominant campaigns in the CEV Repsol Moto3 championship, and was widely tipped as a future great, but struggled with a step up to the intermediate class in 2017.
Jarvis admits Quartararo “lost his way” in grand prix racing over the last two years, but believes he could be “one of the very good riders for the future.”
Speaking to motogp.com during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, he said: “In the case of Quartararo, he will be a rookie but he's young – only 19 – and he's definitely talented.
“He lost his way maybe for a year of two, but he's showing promis again this year. But I think he could be one of the very good riders for the future.
“I think the case of the [Tech3's Hafizh] Syahrin has shown that sometimes you can take a choice and if the guy's got talent and is brought in without expectation, he can deliver.
“So we're quite comfortable with the choice.”
Quartararo had yet to break into the top five in Moto2 prior to his debut win in Barcelona, but has since registered another podium finish and moved up to ninth in the standings, 104 off leader Francesco Bagnaia – who will also step up to MotoGP next year with Pramac.
With Marc VDS' future in MotoGP plunged into doubt due to internal troubles, which came to light at Jerez, Valentino Rossi protege Morbidelli was highly tipped to join the incoming SIC outfit.
Commenting on the Italian, Jarvis added: “They've chosen to go for Franco Morbidelli, who is a rider who is very interesting to us because he's a world champion, he's a [VR46] Academy rider and definitely has talent.
“I think he'll do better on the M1 than he is doing this year on the Honda, so in the case of Franco there was no doubt at all from the beginning.”
Dani Pedrosa had been heavily rumoured to partner Morbidelli next year after confirming his departure from Honda following the Mugello race, but took the decision to retire from racing at the end of the season.
An official confirmation of the new Petronas Yamaha squad's line-up, as well the the SIC team's Moto2 and Moto3 plans for 2019, will come at the British Grand Prix next weekend.
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