Another Major Exit: WithU Parts with RNF Yamaha

Yamaha has received the biggest shock of this season. The title sponsor of the RNF Yamaha team, WithU Energy has decided to abandon the Japanese marque and join Aprilia for the 2023 season. It is the second time that the RNF Yamaha team is left without a title sponsor after Petronas withdrew from the team.

The news is not yet official but it is evident and expected as WithU boss Matteo Ballarin admitted the plans of their sponsorship withdrawal from the RNF Yamaha during an interview with an Italian newspaper l’Arena. Ballarin said that the company has made up its mind to cease the sponsorship of the RNF Yamaha team next year as it wants to focus on its domestic operations and might sponsor volleyball.

WithU itself is facing a financial crisis. The company is an energy provider and given the situation created due to the Russia-Ukraine clash, and increasing prices of power sources, it is somewhere struggling.

What it implies for Razali’s new squad is still extremely unknown, though. After Malaysian oil company, Petronas withdrew and the Sepang Racing Team collapsed, forcing him to essentially start over for 2022, he established a new team with Yamaha support for this season before announcing a switch to Aprilia for 2023 and signing both Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez from KTM.

Andrea Dovizioso joined the team alongside WithU but was unable to make the Yamaha M1 work and has since retired with six races remaining in his 2022 season. WithU is unlikely to have benefited from this cooperation as a result of Dovizioso’s troubles and early exit.

WithU’s exit from the premier motorcycle racing is something Dorna should be considerate of. The sport is on the verge of a disastrous decline, which has persisted in Italy in especially since Valentino Rossi’s departure last year, as seen by declining TV viewership and an outright crash in race attendance at Italy’s two events this year.