Colin Edwards looks to have one eye on a reviving his Yamaha relationship for the 2014
MotoGP season.
Edwards and Forward Racing will switch from a CRT specification Suter-BMW to FTR-Kawasaki next season, but the possibility of using Yamaha M1
MotoGP engines with FTR for 2014 appears of interest to the Texan.
In his latest column for the
BridgestoneMotorsport.com website, Edwards wrote:
“Mark Taylor from FTR is really switched on and I know he's going to turn my comments into progress rather than just telling me how it is and I'm really excited about that.
“We don't know what's going to happen in 2014 engine wise, as it looks like Yamaha might be leasing some engines, but at the end of the day we know we can develop a good chassis with these guys so we'll be ready for whatever happens.”
Edwards raced for Yamaha in
MotoGP between 2005 and 2011, with both the factory team and then the satellite Tech 3 outfit.
During that time, Edwards took ten of his twelve
MotoGP podiums with the YZR-M1 and a best of fourth in the world championship (2007).
Upon announcing his move from Tech 3 to Forward in September last year, Edwards made clear that his preference was to use a Yamaha (R1) engine and Tech 3 chassis, but the Suter-BMW combination was later confirmed.
The 2014
MotoGP rules announced last weekend at Valencia, which include a concession for manufacturers to develop their own ECU software, were "subject to the satisfactory conclusion of ongoing negotiations... concerning the supply of additional machines and engines for use by other teams from 2014."
While Yamaha is said to be prepared to offer 'customer' M1 engines, Honda is planning a complete privateer version of its RC213V.