“I wanted Cal Crutchlow on the Yamaha, Garrett Gerloff is a gamble”

Petronas SRT MotoGP manager Wilco Zeelenberg has revealed he would have preferred to see Cal Crutchlow racing his bike in the Dutch TT at Assen in place of Franco Morbidelli, instead of Garrett Gerloff.

In words that perhaps highlight some of the friction between the two partners when it comes to the decision-making process and how it is leveraged, Zeelenberg said he would have expected Crutchlow - as Yamaha’s test rider - to have been given the nod to sub for Morbidelli following the Italian’s knee injury.

Instead, Yamaha’s WorldSBK rider Gerloff was picked for what will be his MotoGP debut alongside Valentino Rossi. He is the first American since Nicky Hayden in 2017 to start a MotoGP race.

The selection has certainly raised eyebrows - not least Zeelenberg’s - given Yamaha has an experienced, match fit representative waiting in the wings in Crutchlow, compared with Gerloff who is only in his second season of international competition and has barely ridden the Yamaha M1.

“Clearly we have Cal as the test rider and two factory WorldSBK riders, all three were in the picture of having the bike,” Zeelenberg told MotoGP.com pit lane reporter Simon Crafar during FP2 at Assen. 

“Clearly I wanted Cal on the bike, he knows Assen and he is the test rider. On the other side we did not have to replace a rider at this track, but there is a bit of pressure from the situation to have a satellite team and a title for them, so we wanted to have two riders on the bike. 

Branding Gerloff ‘a bit of a gamble’, while Zeelenberg says Gerloff produced some encouraging times in FP1, his crash - something he has been somewhat prolific for in WorldSBK - was otherwise a set-back.

“We know Franco’s injury will take some time and we wanted to give experience to the boys that haven’t been here. Garrett is a bit of a gamble we have to admit, it is risky, and we will give him advice to take his time 

“I have to say I didn’t expect him to be 1m 35 in FP1. Of course he was on the floor once and this is not what we want, but let’s see in FP2.”

Fraying tensions between Petronas SRT and Yamaha?

With a big budget to match other manufacturers and six wins to its name in 2020, Petronas SRT has more resource and clout to throw its weight around than most satellite teams. 

However, Yamaha appears to still holds sway when it comes to the rubber-stamp, influence it has already exerted with Rossi’s switch to Petronas SRT despite it going against the Malaysian-backed team’s ‘MO’ to bring on fresh talent. 

Ironically on this occasion PSRT did prefer experience over youth by wanting Crutchlow on the bike and it’s unusual for a manufacturer to pluck a rider out of one series for a one-off outing in another, with others preferring to rely on test riders instead. 

This would therefore lend itself to the assertion Yamaha has picked Gerloff - with his sought after passport - because it wants to ‘audition’ him for a possible seat in 2022 should Rossi retire.

However, should Morbidelli face a longer spell out while he recovers, Crutchlow is the more likely pick for future races due to Gerloff's WorldSBK commitments.