The manager of the Marc VDS Racing Team, Michael Bartholemy, has confirmed that the team have parted ways with Moto3™ rider Livio Loi following the visit to Sachsenring.

Whilst the Marc VDS Racing Team have enjoyed a highly successful first half of the year in Moto2™, with their riders Tito Rabat and Mika Kallio occupying the top two spots in the standings, the team have not enjoyed the same kind of results in the lightweight class.

Young Belgian rider Loi is placed 18th in the standings having been unable to score a point since a stand out ride to fourth in Argentina.

Bartholemy explained to motogp.com, “We were very clear with Livio last winter, in December, that we would invest in him the money to go until race number seven. So we paid for the whole winter, the preparations, the tests and everything, and after race seven we expected him to be in the top 15. But in the end in Catalunya he was not in the top 15. So after some conversation he said it was the bike which was not good. So we gave him another chance and changed bike to KTM for Assen and Sachsenring, but still there was no result.”

“So basically we will separate from him after Sachsenring and we will start now to look for a replacement. The main idea is to help a rider who maybe financially cannot afford to come to Grand Prix. We will look to find someone who is in that position, someone who is at home or is doing a good national championship. We will try to help this kind of guy so they have the opportunity to come to GP until the end of the year.”