Interwetten Honda confirm 2011 withdrawal

Hiroshi Aoyama’s Interwetten Honda squad confirmed in Estoril last night that it would be quitting the MotoGP world championship at the end of the season.

The withdrawal of the Swiss-based squad has been anticipated for some time as team boss Daniel Epp has been frantically trying to secure enough budget to continue.

But as part of the team’s preview for this weekend’s final round in Valencia, it confirmed that the team would fold immediately after Sunday.

Japanese rider Aoyama, who won the last ever 250GP two-stroke crown in 2009, is expected to announce in Valencia that he has signed a deal to join the San Carlo Gresini Honda squad with Marco Simoncelli.

Interwetten will continue to operate its Moto2 and 125 effort in 2011.
For full coverage of the Estoril race, see Wednesday’s issue of MCN.