MotoGP: Colin Edwards hopes to make Tech 3 stronger

New Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards says one of his key roles in 2008 wll be to help the French-based squad get closer to the performance of Yamaha’s official factory team.

The 33-year-old Texan agreed to join Tech 3 at last weekend’s Czech Republic GP in Brno in a deal exclusively revealed by MCN.

Edwards will retain his factory rider status despite having to move out of the official works team to make way for the arrival of reigning world 250 champion Jorge Lorenzo.

James Toseland’s deal with Tech 3, after he agreed to quit World Superbikes, will see Yamaha start next year with arguably its strongest ever MotoGP line-up, with four world champions riding YZR-M1s.

Edwards told MCN: “I think being a factory rider and moving to the Tech 3 team is good because we need to get that team looked at more like Gresini’s team is to Honda. As in we need to be an actual proper sister Yamaha team that has good bikes and has the ability to run at the front. The last couple of years with the Dunlop situaton it has been really tough going for the Tech 3 team and in all honesty we haven’t learnt anything from them. From my side that’s the biggest problem with them running Dunlop tyres. They are not as competitive as Bridgestone or Michelin and we are just not learning anything from them.”

Edwards confirmed though that as yet he had received no notification from Tech 3 Yamaha boss Herve Poncharal about the tyres he will be running in 2008.