And here it is! Vinales CONFIRMED as Yamaha rider for 2017/18 alongside Rossi – Iannone switches to Suzuki

Lovely stuff. As we outlined and dated a week ago. Here’s the announcement:

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd announce the signing of Maverick Viñales to ride for the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team for 2017 and 2018.

Viñales, who is presently fifth in the MotoGP Championship standings, will partner nin-time World Champion Valentino Rossi, whose contract renewal was already announced in March this year.

Maverick Viñales, born in Figueres (Spain) on 12th January 1995, made his World Championship debut in 2011 in the 125cc Class. His racing career highlights include the victory of the Moto3 World Championship in 2013 as well as three ’Rookie of the Year‘ awards in 2011 (125cc), 2014 (Moto2) and 2015 (MotoGP).

And here’s the news about Andrea Iannone (as we outlined and dated… ):

Suzuki Motor Corporation is pleased to announce the agreement with Andrea Iannone as a Factory rider of Team SUZUKI ECSTAR for 2017-2018.

The Italian will ride the Factory GSX-RR in the MotoGP World Championship for the upcoming two years following the 2016 season.

Iannone was born on August 9th, 1989 in Vasto, Southern Italy. He started racing in the Italian and Spanish Championships in 2004 when he was 15 years old. He moved to the 125 World Championship in 2005, winning four races, before he stepped-up to Moto2 in 2010; always finishing in the top-three places in the Championship and winning eight races. He moved to MotoGP in 2013, and in 2015 – his third season – secured fifth place overall, recording one Pole Position and three podiums.

Davide Brivio – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Team Manager:

“We are happy to have enrolled Andrea in our Team for the next two years. He is one of the top riders in MotoGP and he is also very passionate and motivated; which fits into our racing philosophy. Our technical project is continuously improving since our debut in 2015 and we are working hard to make our GSX-RR very competitive so that it can fight consistently close to top and victory as soon as possible. We wanted a rider that could help Suzuki continue its road to the top. Andrea is a fast rider who has the hunger for success and his riding style could suit our machine’s characteristics, therefore giving us good hopes for a positive partnership. Being in his fourth year in MotoGP he’s also an experienced rider from which the whole Team will benefit.”