Tech 3 say riders must earn new deals

Double Superbike world champion Toseland made a strong start to his MotoGP rookie season last year, but struggled for results in the summer and was disappointed to fall to 11th in the championship.

Although Edwards took two podium finishes and a pole position in 2008, there were persistent rumours about his future at the satellite Yamaha team - and Poncharal admitted that the American had initially been set to lose his ride after last season.

"Nothing goes on forever in life, especially in sport and in MotoGP," Poncharal told the official MotoGP website.

"Both James and Colin are now on one year contracts. Colin was due to leave MotoGP at the end of 2008 but because of the great season he had he managed to get one more year and maybe he is going to be even better in 2009 and will therefore still be with us in 2010. That is what I hope.

"James has been discovering MotoGP and has had to overcome a lot of problems, learning new tracks, getting used to a new bike and a new format of racing. He did really well when you have all that in mind.

"But clearly both of them are under a lot of pressure to perform, like we are and like everybody is in MotoGP."

Poncharal is hoping for a step forward from both riders in 2009.

"We are expecting from Colin that he will continue at the level he is and maybe be even better," he said.

"We are expecting a major improvement from James and I think he is capable of it.

"It is difficult to reach the top and both of them are at the top level in their sport, but sometimes it is even more difficult to remain there. They know the game and it is a tough environment, but this is the life, you want to be there and you have to prove that you are worth being there.

"I can't see why we won´t get the results we are looking for, but of course we also know that there are some young riders knocking at the MotoGP door and our riders know that too. Our riders understand that we need to get podiums."