Interview with Director of Yamaha MotoGP talks Rossi, Lorenzo, and Spies

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See what's it's like to stand toe to toe with the world's greatest riders, look them in the eye, and even get them to sign on the dotted line.

Soup :: SuperBikePlanet.com Interview: Yamaha's Lin Jarvis :: 02-03-2011


SuperBikePlanet.com Interview: Yamaha's Lin Jarvis
by dean adams & susan haas
Thursday, February 03, 2011

In the pecking order of Yamaha's international roadracing efforts, other than the riders themselves, one man stands at the pinnacle. And that man is Lin Jarvis, the commander-in-chief, the Grand Poobah of the Yamaha MotoGP machine.
Jarvis is always around the paddock, but always partially in the shadows. He's not in the limelight because a lot of the important work he does is backstage or in the wings. It's still theatre, but his performance yields very little public applause. But, for those who bleed Yamaha blue, admire the brand, or at least respect the success of the company in roadracing, Lin Jarvis is The Man With The Plan.

But, what do we really know about him? Not a lot, at least up until we did this interview. And that was precisely our mission. To get to know Lin Jarvis, learn more about what he does, and maybe even take a look behind the curtain and see what's it's like to stand toe to toe with the world's greatest riders, look them in the eye, and even get them to sign on the dotted line.

Most of this interview took place at Indianapolis last season.

How is it that you're the director of the factory Yamaha MotoGP team?
A It's a long story. I've been with Yamaha for many, many years. I guess I first got involved in racing, I worked in the UK first. I worked in Yamaha UK, which was then Mitsui UK. My first involvement was, they asked me, at some moment I moved from the technical side of the business, I moved to the sport promotion side. I was fortunate to move in there at a time when Yamaha was really spending a lot of money and involved in a lot of activities. So I ran the motocross activities there, and I was involved at the time, Barry Sheene was on an Akai Yamaha. So I was really a junior at that stage. I was just happy to be involved and doing odd jobs and doing whatever. So that was really my first touch with racing then. And after some years, I quit and decided I wanted to go and live in Europe, so I quit not only the job in Yamaha, I quit the UK, period. Traveled around Europe for a while. Then I went back to the UK, and I got a job in Yamaha Amsterdam, in the European headquarters. So I moved to the Netherlands, and pretty much from then onwards - my first job there was actually with BMX bicycles, which was quite funny. But that product was handled in the racing department, which also is a little bit unusual. But anyway, that was kind of my next step, let's say, into that zone. So I started doing, handling the bicycle business, and then immediately got involved in the marketing of off-road and competition motorcycles, which was in that group. So I kind of again got involved in racing, although this time on the sales level. And then I spent the rest of, let's say many years of my career, doing different jobs in the sales and marketing and communication, corporate communication, but always involved in racing. So always that communication division was also responsible for the motorsports events. So pretty much the last, I could say 20 years, I've been involved. But when I really got involved again full-time in MotoGP was in '98. Then Yamaha was looking to take ownership, to take control, should we say, again, of its MotoGP activities, before it was actually called MotoGP. It was then Road Racing World Championships. And that was then at the time that Wayne was also considering to stop, himself, of running that team. So in '98, we started a project to rebuild the factory team, and then together with Yamaha Japan and Yamaha Europe, they decided, we decided that I was good guy - [laughing] a good candidate, let's say, not a good "guy" - but maybe a good candidate to do that. And we started the new company in '99, January '99, Yamaha Motor Racing, and we took on board and we became the Marlboro Yamaha team. And from then on, the last 11 years, I've been involved really full-time, 100% in the MotoGP operations.

What does your job entail?

A Today, well, anyway, the job title is Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing. So that means I run the company in Italy, which is the, let me say, it's the logistics management center of the MotoGP team. The bikes are all designed, developed in Japan. But all of the team operations are coordinated and managed in Italy, and so I run that company, and then my job involves pretty much anything except touching the bike, I would say. I'm not an engineer. I'm very much a marketing and communications person. But I'm involved in future strategy, budgeting, management affairs, finance accounting, contract discussions, negotiations, everything with sponsors, all the negotiations that are handled with sponsors and with riders. A lot of contact with Yamaha Japan, because of the team and the company at the end of the day is owned by Yamaha Motor Japan, so I report directly to Japan. That's pretty much it, I guess.

Were the last two years the most stressful seasons of your career? Two huge riders under the same team structure ...
A No, no, I don't think so. It's been possibly the most intense and rewarding times. That, I would say. The most trying times were probably when I first took on the project in '99, because the first four years, we had Marlboro Yamaha team. We had Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa as riders. And so for me, that was a time when everything was new to me, I was new directly involved and responsible for all of our operations in the MotoGP. And we didn't win. And Max Biaggi is not famous for being the easiest rider in the world. So I would say that was a very good schooling. And it's quite intense, when you are winning, but believe me, it's easier than when you are not winning.

What was it like trying to negociate Rossi's contract in 2010?

A We had many discussions in the early part of this year, and a lot of very positive discussions with Valentino, and his intention was to continue his career and to stay with Yamaha. Yamaha's intention was, and has always been, to continue with Valentino until he closed his career in MotoGP. That was the scenario we mapped out, so that he could close his career with Yamaha and eventually remain an ambassador of the brand in the future. The negotiations proceeded well early this year. We made a proposal for another two-year agreement. And then there came a moment when Valentino, the discussions were effectively completed, and Valentino wanted more time. He wanted a period of time to consider what he wanted to do. So in that time, we were optimistic still that he would choose to stay with us. But unfortunately, he chose to go a different direction.

Was Rossi's salary an issue?
A No, I don't believe that that was a big issue. I think Valentino has stated recently, in some interviews I've read from him - I haven't heard it from his mouth, but in interviews I've read - he said that his final decision to go to Ducati, actually the Ducati proposal was identical to the Yamaha proposal. So I think from that, you can conclude that the salary was not the major factor.

Having Jorge Lorenzo and Rossi on the same team from a PR aspect seems like a dream team.

A You hit the nail on the head. I think it was, and still is today, the dream team, to have the established master, and to have the fastest rider of the new and next generation, to have those on board at the same time is any team manager's dream, I would say. It's not easy to manage, because of course one rider has - Valentino today is still the current reigning World Champion. He won the last two years with us. We won the Triple Crown of the constructor team and rider title in the last two years. And we're leading all of those things again right now. So it really is quite special to have two such talented riders. But there's a lot of added intensity that comes with that situation. I was just discussing, actually just a few minutes ago, we were discussing here, that this year, we're now a little bit missing that intensity. So we have Jorge now, who's leading the championship by far, and Valentino, who's recovering from injury. So it's not the same. When we were in Indy last year, we were here with two riders head-to-head battling for the championship, and every session and every race was full of, I would say, excitement, full of nervousness, full of tension, full of focus, full of concentration. And that's quite special. Even though it's difficult to manage, because you have the two athletes, very, very competitive, and of course they have their groups with them. So we have two sides of the garage that were competing against each other for a common goal. But it was pretty special and pretty intense.

How did you manage to mange them within one team?

A Generally I would say that that's probably the case, is that because Valentino's been with us now, this is his seventh year and this is only Jorge's third year. So very much, Valentino already having won seven titles in the premier class. Jorge hasn't won one title yet in the premier class. So of course, Valentino's wealth of experience and knowledge, and skill at developing the bike - he is the one that has led the M1 progression and development of all of these years. So Lorenzo definitely was following that and looking and learning and observing from Valentino. I think that that's normal, and that's the way it was. Of course at some moment, we decided that we would have this separation in their garage. This started with the Michelin/Bridgestone affair, when we were forced to put this wall between the two sides to avoid any sharing of visible information or data information between the two tire manufacturers. Then we decided to maintain this, because this allowed both riders to be focused and concentrated on their own jobs. So I think that actually the wall, although it was a pretty hot subject a couple of years ago, actually, if you look at the - only the performance - does it work or not work? The answer is yes. Because it's allowed both of our athletes to fully focus on their own job. And that has perhaps also helped manage the situation, because both riders are extremely competitive, and of course they want to look at their own, they want to focus on their own race plan, on their own tactics, on their own settings, and everything else. But at the same time, of course, there can be, sometimes, a benefit to share information from the other side of the camp. So I think this running two teams with two team managers, we've done it fairly well. We've had some issues. We've done it fairly well. It's not easy. But I think we've managed it fairly well. You see the same thing, if you look in Formula One, people talk about years ago - I didn't follow that years ago, but if you look today, you have Hamilton and Button in the same team. You also have Weber and Vettel in the same team. You cannot avoid tensions. You cannot avoid moments. But hopefully you can guide them, manage them, steer them, and at the end of the day, we're here for results.

From an American perspective the fact that one rider is Spanish and one Italian would not seem to be a point of contention between them--they're European--but I think it was.

A I think between not only nationalities you may have some difference, but also between individuals, even two individuals from the same country. You will have certain tensions that may arrive out of sheer competitive nature of the beast. These riders, they're all fighting to be the fastest, the best, the No. 1, so everybody else is a competitor. This is just a fact. But, the second part of your question ...?

Healthy agro existed between Rossi and Lorenzo.

A Yes, characters are very different, as well, I would say. And also you have to see that Valentino is the seven-times champion, that is towards the back end of his career, and the other one is the two-times 250 champion that is challenging to become champion for the first time. So you have the existing, shall we say, master, and you have the young challenger. So you will always have some - they're in different stages of their career. It's normal. I think it's normal to have a certain amount of tension.

Did you manage one differently than the other?

A The same as you would deal with your brother and sister very differently because of their different characters. So yeah. You always have to. You can't - you have certain, of course, common themes, because at the end of the day we're here to do the same mission. If we go testing, we're here to test and work our way through the program. In a race, it's obvious that certain things are common. But the way to approach that is different with each person, and the same with the riders.
I think it's important to try to maintain a good professional relation with the riders, and if that may evolve into a friendship, that's a benefit. But at the end of the day with us, we're here for business. They're here to achieve their goals in their sporting career, and we're here to achieve our goals. And I generally don't become too close to the riders. It's important to have, to interact with them, to discuss with them, to spend time with them, but it should remain a professional interaction, in my opinion.

Were you shocked when the Ducati offer came into play for Rossi?

A No, I was not ... I'm not shocked any more from this business, you know? You can expect anything. "Disappointed" would be a better word. But certainly not shocked. You know, as soon as it became obvious that Casey was leaving, which was obvious to us insiders a long time ago - it was obvious that as soon as that became 100% fact, that Ducati needed to field a top runner. So they're either going to come for Valentino Rossi or Jorge Lorenzo. One or the other. But not both. So no, I was not surprised.

On American Ben Spies:

Obviously he impressed us from a distance by his performance in the AMA Superbikes, where he dominated the scene for a period of time, with a very competitive teammate. He did a great job and won three titles there. Then he came to do a couple of wild card rides in the GP, and I think he did pretty well, actually, on the Suzuki. I don't remember exactly the races. I remember one was in the UK and one was somewhere else. So that's when we first sort of saw him. And then, I guess, everybody certainly, we logically assumed that Suzuki would take him on board and integrate him into their MotoGP program. But for whatever reason, that didn't happen, and we happened to be in the right place at the right time when that didn't happen. I remember, actually, I had the first meeting here two years ago, with his management, Herve Poncharal and myself, because that's when he was considering to come to MotoGP. Finally he ended up going to Superbikes for last year. But the very first sort of real contact was actually here, when we started to discuss.

(WSBK) I guess it just confirmed to us the talent that we'd heard about. You never know, when you take a rider out of AMA and you put him in the world scene, you never quite know whether that's going to be fulfilled, that his, let's say, expectations will be fulfilled in the world scene. But when he came in Superbike, he impressed everybody, because his focus, his dedication, his riding skills, it was impressive. And during that first year, then he and we started to discuss about the future, what would the future be. And there was different scenarios on the table, and one, of course, was to stay in Superbikes for a second year, because he was, I think, 85 points behind at mid-season, or something. So although he was blindingly fast, we had some technical issues, he had a couple of errors maybe, we had some other incidents that put us at a disadvantage at mid-season. So the question was, you know, from Yamaha's side, we want to win in MotoGP, and we also want to win in Superbikes. In MotoGP we were pretty much covered, because we already had Lorenzo and Rossi in the factory team, but in Superbike we needed to win. And that was, the difficulty was probably mid-season in his Superbike year, because he wanted to come to MotoGP for his career, wanted to become successful in the World Champion[ship] here, but he also wanted to achieve that goal.

So we had many, many discussions, and finally we came up with a contract, and together with - it was a three-party contract: Yamaha Europe, Yamaha Japan, and Spies Racing. We came up with a contract that had a mechanism where the rider could decide. So that was good. He was happy with that. Then we came to, "Okay, what are you going to decide, then?" And actually, I remember that as well, because that was Misano, Misano time last year. I spent a lot of my time in Misano talking to Ben, wherever he was. I don't know where he was. He was in this - he needed to make his decision, needed to make his mind, and finally he said, "I've got to go. I want to go now, because I don't want to wait too long before I make the step, because I know I've got a lot to learn in MotoGP before I can be successful." So he made that decision before he won the Superbike title. And so that was clear. We respected that decision. And then fortunately, he did the business in Superbike. Fantastic. He won the title, which was I think great for him, but also absolutely important for Yamaha, because it was the first title that we'd won. We'd been in World Superbike for many, many years, and we'd got close, but never quite won the riders' title. And so it was kind of a fairy-tale ending to last season, and it supported the decision he'd already made to come into MotoGP.
I'm not a salesman. I like to discuss things openly with people and say, "Okay, if you want to - if you want to come here and be successful, there's no doubt the earlier you arrive, the earlier you will learn and step up and achieve your goal." So I can't remember his age exactly at the moment, but is he 26, I think? So it is the right timing. It was the right timing to make that move. That's the only thing that I said to him, was that, "If that eventually is your real goal, then you should move ... don't wait too long before you make the move." But at the same time, we really wanted to win in Supers, and as I said, we had Jorge and Vale here, so we were in no rush, but if he wanted to achieve his goal, better move early.
 
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