Brno MotoGP: No Honda deal for Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo will not make a dramatic move to Honda in 2010, with HRC today confirming that Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso had agreed new two-year contracts.

Lorenzo possibly quitting Yamaha has been one of the major talking points of the 2009 season, but as was first reported in MCN four weeks ago, the Spaniard will stay with the Fiat Yamaha squad alongside Valentino Rossi.

That follows an announcement by new HRC President Tetsuo Suzuki in Brno this morning that Pedrosa and Dovizioso would remain in Honda’s official factory team until the end of the 2011 world championship campaign Mr Suzuki said:

“We have reached a basic agreement with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso. Both Dani and Andrea are very highly motivated and we are convinced that they will achieve good results in the second half of the season, already focusing on next season. Both have been good Honda riders for a long time.”

Mr Suzuki confirmed that Honda did approach Lorenzo, but he added:

“We have decided to that our best line-up would be to continue racing with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso. It is true that we contacted Lorenzo but we couldn’t reach a conclusion with him.”

He also denied that Honda was still contemplating running a third factory RC212V to accommodate Lorenzo. He added: “That situation is impossible.”

 HRC is also still in negotiation with title sponsor Repsol over a new deal.