The three-time MotoGP race winner joined Yamaha as an official test rider in early 2021 after retiring from full-time competition at the end of last season.
Crutchlow replaced three-time World Champion Jorge Lorenzo in the role after the Spaniard briefly returned to the brand with which he won all three of his MotoGP titles in 2020 after retiring from racing at the end of a sad campaign with Honda in 2019.
Although the ongoing COVID pandemic made Crutchlow’s testing program with Yamaha difficult this year, the 36-year-old Briton attended the tests in Qatar in February and has since taken several private trips – including recently in Aragon on the 2022 M1.
At the annual season-end press conference in Valencia on Friday, Yamaha CEO Lin Jarvis confirmed that the brand will increase its testing plans for the next year and move on to Crutchlow.
“I can say we will be doing more testing next year,” said Jarvis.
“So this is a clear commitment from the parent company.
“We will continue to operate a hybrid operation with many Japanese employees together with many European employees.
“We will have more European employees on the team, but we will continue to have this combination at every location.
“We will definitely continue with Cal. We haven’t signed yet, but we have agreed on terms and conditions and Cal will stay with us in the future, that has already been decided. “
Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Crutchlow competed in four races as a substitute driver in 2021 and represented the injured Franco Morbidelli of Petronas SRT at the Styrian and Austrian GPs before replacing the displaced Maverick Vinales on the Yamaha works team in Silverstone and Aragon.
He wasn’t able to score points in any of these races but was mostly put on the bike to continue his testing program as he hadn’t been on the bike since April before the Austrian one-two in August.
At the beginning of the year, Vinales and 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo praised Crutchlow’s efforts as test drivers over the winter.