Yamaha announces Quartararo, Rins exits for MotoGP 2027
Yamaha has kicked off what's expected to be the second round of major 2027 MotoGP rider line-up announcements by officially bidding farewell to Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins.
Like the majority of 2027 deals, the decisions were an open secret in the paddock for months, but announcements had been held up by the only recently resolved contract impasse between Liberty Media and the MotoGP teams.
Quartararo is heading for Honda, while Rins faces the end of his MotoGP racing career.
Yamaha has signed a pair of current Aprilia riders to replace them - factory racer and current championship leader Jorge Martin plus Trackhouse's Dutch Grand Prix winner Ai Ogura.
Official confirmation of those deals plus Quartararo's switch to Honda is expected imminently now Yamaha has made its first announcement.
Rins's Yamaha stint has been a painful disappointment. He arrived at the start of 2024 still recovering from the serious leg injury he had suffered while at LCR Honda the previous summer, and at a time when Yamaha's competitiveness was at an extreme low.
That uncompetitiveness strained the long-running Quartararo-and-Yamaha relationship, which had begun so well when Quartararo won the 2021 title in his first year as a factory racer after promotion from satellite team Petronas SRT.
Quartararo has been an increasingly frustrated presence over recent years, particularly this season with the slow start to the new V4 engine project - a change of direction he will see no benefit from as he'll soon be at Honda.
Yamaha MotoGP managing director Paolo Pavesio admitted the team and Quartararo had "shared both great successes and difficult moments" together.
"We have grown, celebrated achievements that have shaped our story, and faced challenges that have strengthened us," he said.
"Beyond the results, it is this journey that defines our relationship, and in the end, Fabio will always remain one of the true legends of Yamaha MotoGP."
As for Rins, Pavesio thanked him for "bringing valuable experience, meaningful insight, and unwavering commitment".
Yamaha's satellite team Pramac is expected to keep Toprak Razgatlioglu but to release Jack Miller in favour of Moto2 graduate Izan Guevara.
