On Monday, Dorna Sports – MotoGP’s commercial rights holder – announced it would not be allowing RNF Racing to continue as a team on the grid next year.
Its statement said this was due to “repeated infractions and breaches of the Participation Agreement affecting the public image of MotoGP have obliged this decision”.
This follows on from reports during the Valencia Grand Prix weekend that the team – and specifically title partner and majority shareholder CryptoDATA – was in financial trouble and a takeover from an American firm was possible.
Former RNF team boss and director Razlan Razali told Autosport on Monday that he laid all of the blame for the team’s rejection from MotoGP at CryptoDATA’s door and confirmed that there were suppliers who had yet to be paid.
In Dorna’s statement, it noted that “the Selection Committee will be reviewing applications for a new Independent Team, using Aprilia machinery, to join the MotoGP class grid for 2024.”
Autosport has now learned that this will be Trackhouse Racing, an American team owned by Justin Marks and Armando Christian Perez.
Trackhouse made its NASCAR Cup Series debut at the 2021 Daytona 500 and has since scored four wins with Ross Chastain as well as an historic victory in Chicago with Shane Van Gisbergen this year.
Source: Autosport