Lin Jarvis to leave role as Yamaha MotoGP team principal at the of 2024
Lin Jarvis has confirmed he will leave his role as Yamaha MotoGP team boss after 2024.
Lin Jarvis has been in charge of Yamaha’s racing project for the last 26 years but will step down after the current MotoGP season.
The news comes one week after Yamaha retained its star rider in Fabio Quartararo until the end of 2026.
This will be my last season at Yamaha, I will quit at the end of the year," Jarvis told Motorsport.com at the Americas Grand Prix at COTA. "I will decide later what I'm going to do, what I will dedicate my time to."
"I started the factory team in 1999. It has been an unusually long period. I'm 66 years old now and I'm starting to get a little tired of travelling.
"I've been doing this for 26 years, and it's quite extraordinary for the same person to lead a project, in a factory, for such a long period.
"The time has come to do something new.
"It's the ideal time to make this transition. We have to be able to close my chapter and start the new one, in harmony. That is the best solution for both parties.
"We have already identified the candidate who will most likely become my successor, although it has not yet been made official.
"But it will be a man from the Yamaha group, who will take over my position in January next year."
Jarvis has been at the helm for some of Yamaha’s most impressive championship-winning seasons, including all of Valentino Rossi’s title wins with the Japanese brand.
While Jarvis leaving will mean big shoes are to be filled, Yamaha’s project appears to be in good hands after signing several key technicians, including new Technical Director Max Bartolini, formerly of Ducati.
Speaking prior to the 2024 season getting underway, Jarvis addressed his future saying: “This year is my 25th year, both as managing director and team principal of the factory team,” he said.
“So it's been a significant run, but I'm not getting any younger. Hair is greyer, there's less and less of it! So at some stage in the future, I will change. And we need to bring in the new generation.
“As a company or corporation it's always like that. You have to prepare for the transition and for the future continuity of the business. And so I will definitely be here for the entire season, in my current role. Subject to good health and everything else.
“In the future, let us see. But we are in the process of selecting now and deciding what's the management to take us into the next era.”
The Englishman added: “It will be a person within the Yamaha Motor Group. This I can assure you. So we are not looking to take anybody from the outside.
“I think it's not important the nationality of the person. It's important the mindset of the person, the mentality of the person and the experience of the person.
“So it doesn't matter if it's European or non-European.
"But within the group we need somebody with experience. Most of the people within the group that have the experience to take on that role, would most likely be European.”
