In a surprise announcement, Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team (SRT) has Jake Dixon moving up from the Moto2 class to MotoGP for one race at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. Scheduled to run on the weekend of August 27 to 29, Dixon will fill in for Franco Morbidelli, who is still recovering from knee surgery.
Morbidelli’s seat on the SRT YZR-M1 was initially filled by Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow, who raced in SRT colours for the Styrian and Austrian Grands Prix in Austria. Crutchlow heads over to the Monster Energy Yamaha Racing Team to take the place of Maverick Vinales whose contract with Yamaha was abruptly terminated.
Dixon, aged 25, will be racing in front of his home crowd and joined Petronas Sprinta Racing in 2020 to campaign in the Moto2 World Championship, finishing 18th at the end of the season. His 2021 record sees him placing mostly outside the top 10, his best being a seventh place finish in Qatar.
According to team principal Datuk Razlan Razali, this will be an opportunity for Dixon to explore his potential riding a Yamaha YZR-M1 on a circuit he knows well. Meanwhile, Dixon is treating this one-off ride as a chance to build experience, calling it the attainment of a lifelong goal.
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SRT gives dream rides to foreigners, while denying rides for the locals. Dixon average performance so far does not merit a motoGP ride in any way.
Exactly why Petronas sponsorship termination was the best decision.
PETRONAS already achieved the field-test target 3 years for MotoGP. The C19 situation further the decision early. They’re already in it, the official Engine & Trans lube supplier for all Moto3 & Moto2 team, showcasing their lube engineering in M1 MotoGP bikes.
funny when your name fact checker does not even check the actual facts in motoGP
official lubrication supplier to Moto3 and Moto2 is Liqui Moly
petronas is the official FUEL supplier for Moto3 and Moto2 until 2022.
Brother, u’re into too much of Indonesian YouTube comments, so emotional and dramatic, which is never the criteria & factor the corporation & sponsor like Petronas did their multimillion decision
Peteonas has no say on which rider goes on which bike. Because officially petronas sponsors SIC, not SRT.
So who will get Dixon’s seat for moto2 in Silverstone?
Give SRT a break, Yamhas has done the wrong thing to them. 1st they force them to take on Rossi, then give the factory bike to him instead of Mordbillel, then they offer vr46 half the price to take on yamhas, then take Mordbillel of them, then when SRT loose Petronas, instead of offering them the same deal as vr46 they only offer them B spec bikes. SRT should seriously approach Suzuki and get rid of the yamhas.
Malaysian fans will be happy that SRT is hit with karma.
The Petronas sponsorship was originally for SIC. Instead RR created another entity with very similar sounding name, the SRT which is fully owned by him and his brother and channeled all the money into SRT.
This is reminiscence of the 1MDB fiasco, when Jho Low and his associates had incorporated Aabar BVI in British Virgin Islands to be similar in name to Aabar Investment PJS (Aabar Investment), which was the real subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC). 1MDB money was put into the fake Aabar account, instead of the real one.