RiderTua.com – With a contract extension until 2026, Fabio Quartararo will be at Yamaha for at least 8 years. The 2021 MotoGP World Champion has the opportunity to make history because it is very rare for a rider to only ride a Yamaha in his career.
El Diablo has ridden Yamaha since joining MotoGP in 2019 and then joined the factory team in 2021. The French rider has never ridden for another brand (apart from Honda, KTM and Kalex in the small class). Only Ducati riders from Italy such as Pecco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, Fabio di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi have ‘monogamy’ like him, as do Jorge Martin (also Ducati), Brad Binder (KTM) and Taka Nakagami (Honda), as well as two riders GASGAS team Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez.
Apart from Fabio Quartararo, these are the riders who are loyal to Yamaha
Several riders have been recorded as having strengthened Yamaha for more than 8 seasons, especially superstar Valentino Rossi, who has exactly twice as long. However, the legend from Tavullia-Italy also rides Ducati and Honda in the main class. Jorge Lorenzo or Carlos Checa did the same thing.
Throughout the history of MotoGP there has only been 1 rider other than Fabio who competed in MotoGP exclusively on Yamaha. He is James Toseland, who raced for the Yamaha Tech3 team in 2008 and 2009 and took home several 6th place highlights. However, his loyalty to Yamaha is more due to the situation at Tech3, because when he entered the World Superbike Championship he also rode Ducati, Honda and BMW.
But what about the unforgettable Yamaha legend Norifumi ‘Norick’ Abe? The top rider from Japan experienced his heyday in the 2-stroke 500cc era, but he also raced in MotoGP for 3 years. During his time in GP (11 seasons) and 2 years in the World Superbike Championship, the long-haired rider rode a Yamaha exclusively.
Special? Not too! When he debuted in Japan in 1994, Norick actually drove a Honda once. Then he became a Yamaha test rider and unfortunately died in a traffic accident in 2007. However, he cannot be forgotten as a rider who had a closer relationship with the manufacturer with the tuning fork (Diapason) logo than most other riders.
In his entire racing career, Ben Spies has ridden Yamaha almost exclusively with 50 of his 55 races on a Yamaha. However he competed in his first 3 races on a Suzuki and his last 2 on a Ducati.
Including racers such as Pere Riba (5 starts recording 4 points), Wataru Yoshikawa (2 starts with 5 points), Katsuyuki Nakasuga (12 starts, 1 podium and a total of 69 points) or Garrett Gerloff (2 starts but 0 points).
If Quartararo really spends his entire career at Yamaha, it will not only make him a legend for the manufacturer from Iwata, Japan, but will also be a total exception in the world of racing because even Marc Marquez (at least temporarily) decided to leave Honda.
