Yamaha’s Masao Furusawa may be retiring in a month and half, but the driving force behind Yamaha’s MotoGP racing effort has revealed that the Iwata company has started a Moto3 project.
Moto3 will be replacing the present 125cc class next year with 250cc four stroke engines and with big manufacturers like Honda and KTM getting into the game and small outfits like Ioda Racing, ADV and the latest from Sherco/Moro Racing that already have a head start with prototypes in the competing phase in national championships or already available to teams for testing, and Yamaha doesn’t want to be left out the door, and are developing a bike based on their YZ250F engine configuration.
Their interest according to Furusawa is to help groom upcoming riders, but Yamaha isn’t new to the lower classes with their World titles in the 125cc and 250cc classes back in ‘67 and ‘68.
