Yamaha Confirms Romain Febvre’s Departure At End Of Season

August 9, 2019

With the 2019 Monster Energy FIM Motocross World Championship winding down, talk of 2020 teams and plans have intensified in recent weeks. On Friday morning, ahead of a weekend without a race, Yamaha confirmed that Romain Febvre would part ways with the company at the close of the 2019 season. Yamaha is expected to announce their 2020 plans with riders and teams in the next few weeks, but Febvre’s departure for a new deal at Monster Energy Kawasaki has been rumored for some time. With this news, the French rider and 2015 MXGP world champion’s move to green is all but confirmed.

Febvre will complete the 2019 Monster Energy FIM Motocross World Championship and the 2019 Motocross of Nations with Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing. An ankle injury forced Febvre to miss a large part of the 2019 season, but since his return at the 2019 MXGP of Portugal, he has scored seven podium finishes in motos, with four of those being moto wins.

Earlier in the week, Monster Energy Kawasaki announced a contract extension with Clement Desalle for 2020. Febvre is slated to take Julien Lieber’s role at the factory team in 2020.

The full statement from Yamaha, plus an Instagram post from Febvre, are included below…

Yamaha Motor Europe wishes to formally announce that its partnership with Romain Febvre will be drawn to a close at the end of the 2019 MXGP season.

Together with Yamaha, the “461” has taken his YZ450FM to 27 Grand Prix race wins, 50 Grand Prix podiums, and 12 Grand Prix victories, with the highlight of his career being crowned 2015 MXGP World Champion in what was an unforgettable rookie season.

In addition to his Grand Prix success’, the YZ450FM mounted Frenchman has played a key role in the glory of Team France at the prestigious Monster Energy Motocross of Nations with Febvre leading his team to victory on three occasions.

Yamaha is extremely grateful for the five fruitful years spent with Febvre, where together we have shared many memorable moments. The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team look forward to lining up at the remaining four rounds of the 2019 MXGP World Championship with Febvre at the helm, where they hope to toast even more success.

Yamaha Motor Europe would like to wish Febvre all the best for his future in racing.

View this post on Instagram

I have had some amazing times with Yamaha over the past five years, but now it’s time to move on to a new challenge. Thanks Yamaha for believing in me in my rookie season! & also for the years after. I hope we can celebrate some more good times over the next four rounds and of course at the #MXoN. I had some good and bad moments since 2015 but always the people of Yamaha and my Team were there to support! Would like to give a huge thankful to Éric de Seynes, Paolo Pavesio, Erik Eggens, Alexandre Kowalski, Michele Rinaldi and all my team…To my fans, unfortunately I can’t share the news of my new plans until after the Motocross of Nations. I will let you know as soon as I can. Link in my bio. #2020
A post shared by Romain Febvre (@romainfebvre) on Aug 9, 2019 at 5:14am PDT