Rossi to change Yamaha crew chief for 2020

Valentino Rossi has announced he will change crew chiefs from next season at Monster Yamaha with Silvano Galbusera heading to the team’s European-based test squad as Davide Munoz steps up as his replacement.

Galbusera was appointed Rossi’s crew chief in 2014, replacing Jeremy Burgess in the Italian rider’s team, but following a disappointing run of results for Yamaha it has triggered a shake-up of its technical team.

Rossi has confirmed Galbusera will switch to Yamaha’s European-based MotoGP test team with Munoz taking his role from 2020. Munoz oversaw Francesco Bagnaia’s Moto2 title triumph in 2018 and is currently crew chief to Nicolo Bulega at the Sky VR46 Moto2 team.

The change comes as a surprise given Rossi denied Galbusera would be axed from his Yamaha team in July but the nine-time world champion has detailed the reasons behind the changes.

“After the Misano race we spoke together with Silvano because we wanted to try to do something to be stronger,” Rossi said. “It was different factors together because also Silvano wanted to work for Yamaha but he wanted to try something with less stress and also with less days out of Italy.

“At the same time Yamaha wanted to try to make the test team stronger for next year to improve the work in Europe. I didn’t expect it at the beginning but speaking together we decided to change so Silvano will go to the test team next year.

“I will have another chief mechanic that is coming from our team in Moto2. His name is Davide [Munoz], last year he worked with Pecco and he won the championship and this year he works with Bulega so I am excited.

“It is a new experience and he doesn’t have any experience with the MotoGP bike but he is very young and has good ideas. In the end everybody is happy and Silvano is good, he is happy to stay in the test team, so we will try and see if we can become stronger.”

Pressed on the reasons behind the change, Rossi admits his team were getting “stuck” with a lack of consistent progress while he was also impressed by Munoz’s management of Bagnaia during his charge to the Moto2 world title last year.

Rossi hasn’t featured on the MotoGP podium since the Americas MotoGP round back in April while he has slipped to 10 points behind team-mate Maverick Vinales in the current riders’ standings.

“Unfortunately we are a little bit stuck and together also with Silvano and Yamaha we tried to understand the way to improve,” he said. “I know him [Munoz] very well and I followed the team very well and last year he did a very good job with Pecco.

“I like the way he managed it at the end of the season, there was a lot of pressure and Pecco was a little bit nervous to lose the championship with Oliveira, I liked him.

“He is quiet and the way he managed the situation worked. I asked him and unfortunately it is something negative for our team [Sky VR46 Moto2 team] as he is something very important for our team but we decided to try so we will see.”

Despite the change in crew chief, Rossi says the move doesn’t act as a hint towards his own MotoGP future.

The 40-year-old will enter the final year of his current Yamaha MotoGP contract next season and says any renewal will depend on his results in 2020.

“I have the contract for next year and for the future it depends very much on the results of next year,” he confirmed.

Rossi’s crew chief change marks the latest overhaul in Yamaha’s MotoGP hierarchy following last month’s confirmation that Yamaha Motor Racing president Kouichi Tsuji would be stepping down from his role.