Ex-MotoGP team boss Razlan Razali claims that Yamaha vetoed the signing of Alex Marquez to the Petronas outfit for the 2020 intermediate class campaign.
Speaking in a documentary filmed by Spanish broadcaster DAZN, the Malaysian – who ran the Sepang International Racing-owned team from its inception in 2019 until he purchased it ahead of the 2022 term – claimed that he was interested in bringing the Spaniard into the operation for 2020.
Marquez, the younger brother of six-time premier class champion Marc, had recently claimed the Moto2 world title and was looking for a passage into MotoGP. He eventually secured a seat alongside Marc at the factory Honda outfit for the following season, though Razali says he had signed a deal with Alex well before he secured the intermediate class championship.
Razali says the plan was to have Alex race with SIC’s Moto2 team for 2020 before moving onto one of its premier class Yamaha M1s for 2021, with Fabio Quartararo set to move into the Japanese manufacturer’s factory squad. He says that Yamaha vetoed the deal, stating that “no member of the Marquez family is allowed to come to Yamaha.”
“I was the team manager of the Petronas Sepang Racing Team,” began Razali while talking to DAZN.
“In 2019 we had a motorcycle in Moto2, but for 2020 Dorna gave us a second slot. I like Alex Márquez, he was on my list of candidates.
“We held a few secret meetings and signed in the Márquez motorhome so that he would drive for us in Moto2 for a year and then let Alex move up to MotoGP with us in 2021 as soon as Fabio Quartararo had switched to the factory team.
“We signed in August 2019, at 10 p.m., and I told Yamaha that I would sign Alex Márquez for Moto2 and then MotoGP.
“But the answer came from Yamaha: ‘No, no member of the Márquez family is allowed to come to Yamaha.’
“I asked, ‘Why? This is my team…’ It was because of Marc Márquez and what happened in 2015. This became a personal matter for them.”
Yamaha’s strained relationship with Marc stems from the fallout of the 2015 MotoGP title fight, which was staged between M1 pilots Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi and Marquez had several on-track and off-track falling outs due to Marquez’s aggressive riding style, the Italian calling out Marquez in the pre-event press conference of that year’s Malaysian Grand Prix. He accused Marquez of purposely not overtaking Lorenzo for the win until the final lap in the previous race at Phillip Island to prevent him having a chance to also pass the Mallorcan, something the Honda rider didn’t take kindly to.
Things then boiled over just a couple of days later in the Sepang race, as Rossi ran into Marquez while the two battled, causing the latter to crash out. Rossi ended up losing out on the title to Lorenzo despite heading to the season-ending Valencia GP leading the points, with many feeling Marquez purposely didn’t pass the eventual champion for victory knowing this would give Rossi the title.
