Tech 3 Yamaha rider Zarco has been linked to several rival factories, namely KTM and Suzuki, off the back of a rookie season in which he regularly challenged Yamaha's factory riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales.

Team boss Herve Poncharal has also expressed hope he could retain Zarco for 2019 in the wake of his new deal to run works-supported KTM machinery from next season onwards.

Although Rossi's newly-announced contract leaves no room for the French rider at the works team, Jarvis said Zarco could be offered a factory M1 to keep him within the Yamaha fold.

It comes as the Iwata marque begins discussions about finding a replacement team for Tech 3 to maintain a four-bike presence on the 2019 MotoGP grid.

"He’s very quick, it’s a shame we can only have two bikes in the works team," Jarvis said of Zarco.

"We already have Maverick and also Valentino, so there is no space in the works team. But there is the chance to give a works bike to a third rider, so we are thinking about this situation.

"That will be subject to a new discussion, and a new contract with a new team."

Yamaha kept its side of Tech 3 bargain

Jarvis also took the chance to refute suggestions that Tech 3 parted ways with Yamaha after 18 years together because the team wasn't being offered a factory-spec bike.

"I don’t believe Herve left because he didn’t feel support from Yamaha," he said. "I think Herve left because he had a fantastic offer from a competitor that really needs to have a satellite team. That offer probably involved many things in terms of bike performance, in terms of finance, stability.

"I think you have to see the bigger picture and not say Herve left simply because he didn’t get the support from Yamaha.

"It’s true we haven’t provided a factory bike to Johann, but we’ve always respected our policy and our contract. And our contract with Herve was not to provide a factory bike."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont