After long-time Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith confirmed he would be joining KTM in 2017, Tech 3 announced Moto2 graduate Jonas Folger for the upcoming campaign, with Poncharal admitting he wanted to keep Pol Espargaro on the other bike.

However, it has since been confirmed that Espargaro is leaving for KTM as well - and, at Barcelona, Poncharal admitted this has left the team in a difficult situation.

"At the moment, I am not a very happy man, not a very happy team manager," Poncharal said.

"We lost Bradley early in the season, now Pol has made his decision to leave and I'm a bit concerned right now. I feel the championship, we've been doing a great job, everything has been going in the right direction, to work, to push for one ECU [for the whole grid].

"[Independent teams] clearly have the closest bike, in many many years, to the factory teams.

"But although we have very close machinery to the factory teams, it looks like now there's a trend - if you're a young fast rider, there's nothing but a factory ride. And this is quite difficult for us to understand. Clearly, we were B-teams some years ago, but I think now we are C-teams.

"Our bike is very very competitive, but for some reason nobody wants it..."

No longer Yamaha's junior team

While Poncharal stated that Tech 3 still enjoyed the full support of Yamaha, he also noted his team no longer seemed to be a viable route to a Yamaha factory seat - with the Japanese marque spurning Tech 3's current riders to sign Maverick Vinales away from Suzuki.

"I always said that we were, inside the Yamaha organisation, the junior team... but are we the junior team inside Yamaha now?

"The answer is clearly 'no', because when was the last time there was a Tech 3 rider moving up to the main team? It was Ben Spies in 2010 - not a real Tech 3 rider, but a factory rider who [had already] won the World Superbike championship.

"And clearly now I think the B-teams are the new factories, like Suzuki, and Ducati, I don't know if it's B-plus or A-minus or something like that."

"[Moto2 star and Tech 3 target] Alex Rins is a good example. He said clearly 'I want a factory ride'. He would be a very exciting prospect for us, he has the same personal sponsor [Monster Energy], so it would make sense.

"But who is on the factory Yamaha next year? Somebody who joined Suzuki and then was offered a deal from there. So is it the best route to join Tech 3 to get a factory Yamaha? It doesn't look like it at the moment.

"It is tough decision - of course, if you don't have the right rider, you don't have a package exciting to the sponsor - and if you don't have a sponsor, you have even less of a chance to pick up an exciting rider and you get a vicious cycle. I'm a bit worried about the independent teams' future."

Negotiations with Zarco and Rins

Despite his worries about the lack of options, Poncharal confirmed that Tech 3 was in negotiations with both Rins and reigning Moto2 champion Johann Zarco - even though both are also believed to be talking to Suzuki.

"There are not too many names left," admitted Poncharal. "If we are saying we want young riders instead of established MotoGP riders, the two best candidates are Alex Rins and Johann Zarco, clearly.

"We are talking to both of them right now."