Monster Yamaha Tech 3 has confirmed that Colombian rider Yonny Hernández will replace Jonas Folger in the upcoming testing days in Sepang. The team will count on a rider who has several years of MotoGP and whose testing laps may help to understand the bike better. Hernández, however, will only step in for the team for the next week of testing.
After the surprising announcement Jonas Folger did, saying that we wouldn’t be able to take part in the 2018 MotoGP season due to health problems, there have been lots of rumours about who would take that seat. Hervé Poncharal, Tech 3 team principal, admitted that it was going to be difficult to find someone since every competitive rider already has a contract.
However, the team needed an urgent replacement for the next days of testing, which will begin the 28th of January at the Sepang International Circuit. The chosen rider has finally been Yonny Hernández.
The 29-year old Colombian rider has five years of experience in MotoGP with BQR, ART and private Ducati teams. His last season on the premier class was 2016, on which his bad results forced him to go back to Moto2, where only lasted half season in AGR Team before he was fired and replaced by Joe Roberts.
Hernández recently confirmed that he would be racing in the Superbike World Championship with Pedercini Racing, which means that he is very unlikely to take Folger‘s seat for the entire season. Poncharal said that Hernández “is on the shortlist for 2018”, but they are looking for a rider that could do the entire season and would get on the bike on the next testing week, held in Thailand between the 16th and the 19th of February.
“First of all, I have to say, that I’m sorry for Jonas Folger,” says Hernandez. “I hope he gets well very soon and back on track again, as he is an incredible fast and talented rider and I want to wish him all the best. At the same time, I’m obviously happy for myself to get such a fantastic opportunity riding a MotoGP bike again. I’m delighted I can do the test and work with a very good team and machine. I’m truly curious to ride a Yamaha bike, because in all my career I was sitting on a Ducati. I want to thank the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team and especially Herve Poncharal for giving me this unique chance.”