Cairoli and Yamaha extend collaboration for three more years

Yamaha is pleased to announce that current FIM MX2 World Championship leader Antonio Cairoli has signed a new contract to remain in blue colours for a further three years and will contest the MX2 series for the 2008 campaign.

The popular and talented 21 year old has steered a YZ250F for the Italian De Carli team since 2004 and in that time has claimed the 2005 World Championship and finished 3rd and 2nd the other two seasons; totalling 15 career victories .

Cairoli’s form has been magical this season with five straight wins and ten moto triumphs from a possible twelve. He leads the ’07 competition from 64 points over Christophe Pourcel. The Sicilian is committed to the 2008 MX2 World Championship for his fifth term on the YZ and with Claudio De Carli’s impressive crew but for the following two years he could make a switch to MX1 or even consider an AMA berth over the Atlantic.  “I am really happy with the new deal,” said the flamboyant winner of Grand Prix in Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany this season who visited the Yamaha factory in Iwata earlier this week. “We made a good arrangement for both Yamaha and I and it is great to get it confirmed. I will definitely be in MX2 next season and then we will see, maybe MX1. It was an easy decision to make because I have a happy home with Yamaha and the team. MX2 is a difficult class but we have one of the best bikes.”

“We are really happy that Tony has signed for Yamaha for three years and will continue with us,” commented De Carli. “It will be another step in a positive direction and also nice because Tony began his emergence as a top rider with our team. I am pleased that the decision was an easy one for him and that he feels happy racing with us.”

“Tony is the most talented young rider in the World Championship and we are very happy to have an agreement with him for the upcoming three years,” offered Yamaha Motor Europe’s Racing Manager Laurens Klein Koerkamp. “He is an important asset for the Yamaha brand. Not only is he a fantastic rider but a warm person with a lot of personality. He very much fits into the Yamaha family because we are a ‘human’ company. We believe that he has a lot of potential, whether he wishes to go to MX1 or to the US to race Supercross in the next few years. We are looking forward to a prosperous and exciting future together."