How one MotoGP team went from title fights to losing it all in four years

Believe it or not, the team known as RNF Racing, that finished 11th out of 12 in the 2022 MotoGP teams’ championship and had a highest-placed rider of 21st, is the same squad that finished runner-up in the title race in 2020.

Back then, RNF Racing was the Sepang Racing Team and was backed by Malaysian oil giant Petronas. SRT had spent numerous years in the Moto3 and Moto2 class before it elected to make the step up to MotoGP in 2019, taking over the grid slots of the Marc VDS Honda squad after it got itself mired in internal troubles.

Helmed by former Sepang circuit chief Razlan Razali, SRT took over from Tech3 as Yamaha’s official satellite partner and plucked 2017 Moto2 world champion Franco Morbidelli from the crumbling Marc VDS team. Its second choice of rider, Fabio Quartararo, turned heads as the eventual 2021 MotoGP title winner had only just won his first grand prix in the junior ranks, the 2018 Moto2 Catalan Grand Prix, after three-and-a-bit seasons of underwhelm despite the surrounding hype.

It proved to be inspired as the management structure of Razali, experienced Yamaha man Wilco Zeelenberg, and Johan Stigefelt was able to extract the true potential out of the young Frenchman. Quartararo scored seven podiums and six pole positions, challenged Marc Marquez twice for race victories, and was comfortably the top rookie in sixth in the standings. SRT outclassed its satellite rivals in fourth in the teams’ table, beating Pramac Racing by 87 points and only missing out on pipping the factory Yamaha squad by 75 points.

In 2020, armed with factory machinery, Quartararo won three times, while Morbidelli – on a 2019-spec bike – did the same. Quartararo’s challenge crumbled spectacularly in the final six rounds of the COVID-affected 2020 season, but Morbidelli ended up runner-up in the championship and was only 13 points adrift of Suzuki’s Joan Mir in the end.

Then it all went wrong.

Morbidelli wasn’t given a bike upgrade for 2021 and struggled horrendously, scoring just one podium before injury curtailed the first half of his season. He would end up re-appearing at the San Marino GP decked out in factory Yamaha colours, as he was chosen to replace the ousted Maverick Vinales. Quartararo had already been promoted for 2021, with MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi taking his place at the satellite squad.

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Fabio Quartararo and Petronas Yamaha SRT had a stunning first season in MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

But the Doctor struggled immensely for form, achieving a best result of 10th and ultimately calling time on his career. Compounding the misery, Petronas backed out of sponsoring the team, which ultimately led SRT to fold. Razali was left in a mad scramble to set up a new team, doing so under the banner of RNF Racing.

“I don’t know where to begin because I think we have gone through every single… ok dream, the dream is to win the world championship,” Razali tells Autosport as he reflects on a difficult 2022.

“But finishing second in our first year [fighting for the title] was already good. But, for us to go through the worst period within four years is unbelievable. I can’t think of anything worse than what we’ve gone through. From losing Petronas in 2021, which resulted in us not continuing [as SRT]. But then it was positive because it presented an opportunity to take it over as my own.”

"You wonder why they [Yamaha] couldn’t give me a multi-year agreement. They insisted on a one-year agreement, which I said we couldn’t do. The strategy of sustainability and long-term planning is always a key philosophy for me in terms of doing business and I cannot compromise on that. So, we had no choice but to go to Aprilia" Razlan Razali

RNF promptly signed a new one-year deal with Yamaha to continue as its satellite partner, with Andrea Dovizioso brought out of his sabbatical from the 2021 San Marino GP to ride a factory-spec bike from 2022. SRT’s Moto3 race winner Darryn Binder – coming armed with some much-needed financial backing – was promoted straight to MotoGP on a 2021-spec M1.

Three-time championship runner-up Dovizioso failed to replicate the form he had shown at Ducati in the eight years between 2013 and 2020, achieving a best result of 11th in Portugal as he struggled to adapt to the Yamaha. After the San Marino GP, he retired from MotoGP. Binder, meanwhile, managed to finish a best of 10th but scored just 12 points all season and will head down to Moto2 in 2023.

Upheaval carried on throughout 2022. Razali wanted Yamaha to commit to the team he had resurrected from the ashes of SRT for multiple years beyond 2022, which the Japanese manufacturer would not do. And so, RNF signed with Aprilia on a two-year deal to become its satellite partner from next season. As a result, its line-up has been refreshed, with Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez coming in, while Binder – Razali claims – “was a victim” of the Yamaha split as he was directly contracted to the Iwata-based marque.

After forming a team under a new guise, Razali's squad endured a tough 2022 in MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“We are in the pinnacle two-wheel motorsport world championship,” Razali says of his split with Yamaha, who will not have a satellite partner in 2023 but could link up with VR46 from 2024. “So, you need a long-term plan, you need a long-term strategy, from sponsors, from marketing, from whatever it is. And I can accept 2022 being only [a] one year [deal] because of various circumstances, but I think in the middle of the year we have shown we have delivered, we have shown we have presented ourselves, we are fully equipped.

“It’s the same people from the former team, so you wonder why they [Yamaha] couldn’t give me a multi-year agreement. So, they insisted on a one-year agreement, which I said we couldn’t do. So, the strategy of sustainability and long-term planning is always a key philosophy for me in terms of doing business and I cannot compromise on that. So, we had no choice but to go to Aprilia.”

Talks with Aprilia began back in 2020, but Razali says “there was no real intention to change” on his part from Yamaha given what SRT achieved over its first two years. Aprilia came courting again in 2022 and – once it became clear RNF couldn’t continue with Yamaha – a letter of intent was signed within an hour of discussions. The deal was finalised a few hours later.

The timing of RNF’s switch to Aprilia coincides with the Italian marque becoming race winners for the first time in the modern era, with Aleix Espargaro mounting a title challenge through to the penultimate round of 2022.

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But just as all looked up, WithU – RNF’s title sponsor – decided it would not be continuing in 2023. Thus began a scramble to secure new backing, which came in the form of cryptocurrency company CryptoData. Where exactly that money comes from is hard to trace, and the bursting dam that is crypto which has been triggered by FTX’s collapse doesn’t offer a positive outlook for RNF going into 2023.

That is out of the team’s control, at least to an extent as it insists its due diligence on CryptoData – which has sponsored several grands prix in recent years – has been thorough.

What it can control is what is happening on track, and already the first signs were positive at the post-season Valencia test. Oliveira was fifth-fastest overall and was the top rider who’d switched manufacturer. While Razali says the support RNF received from Yamaha was good, the Japanese manufacturers’ mentality of taking their time with developments hindered its progress.

RNF Racing heads into 2023 with new bikes, new riders and new sponsors

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

With Aprilia, RNF will start with the same bikes as its factory counterpart. While the works squad will get priority on development, Razali has been assured that Aprilia wants RNF to be a true partnership.

“They want to make sure the satellite team is successful, it’s an important project for them, not only to have two more riders to gather data, which is very important to compare, having two young riders on it,” Razali says of Aprilia. “So, they recognise the importance of having a satellite team and it’s important for them to work with a satellite team. And in fact, the objective is they want us to beat them. And that is nice to hear, because the relationship is not a customer/client relationship, it’s more of a partnership. And that’s what I’ve been asking for all this time.”

"They recognise the importance of having a satellite team and it’s important for them to work with a satellite team. In fact, the objective is they want us to beat them" Razlan Razali

Razali is also hopeful Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola’s Formula 1 background, in which he oversaw Ferrari’s junior programme from 2016 to 2019, will allow RNF to have its own rider development structure going forward.

It’s a “chemistry” that Razali says was missing with Yamaha and one which must now return the squad to the front of the order before serious questions over RNF’s legitimacy start to mount.

After an encouraging Valencia post-season test, could a new dawn be bright at RNF Racing?

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images