Schmidt Racing splits from MV Agusta

Schmidt Racing has opted to end its partnership with MV Agusta midway through the current World Supersport championship after feeling the F3 675 had been failing its team and riders.

Both Nicolas Terol and Kyle Ryde were dogged by technical problems throughout Friday practice as well as qualifying at Misano which left both riders way off the pace.

Despite a strong start by the 2011 125cc world champion, the Spaniard eventually slipped down the order to finish 19th while Ryde was continually hampered by mechanical problems to finish 23rd.

With Schmidt Racing team manager Robert Balogh stating his mechanics and engineers have pushed the MV Agusta machine to its limits it has chosen the summer break to split from the Italian manufacturer and seek a fresh start.

"On the one hand I'm totally unsatisfied with how things have gone here in Misano, but on the other hand I'm pleased because we are working towards our future," Balogh said. "We will interrupt our relationship with MV and I'm sure that we can get back to being competitive when the championship resumes after the summer break.

"As ever, our riders and technicians have done their best, but these results clearly do not reflect our abilities."

"The team has done all it could, but the bike prevented me from scoring a better result," Terol added. "I had both chassis and engine issues. It would slip into neutral and the engine brake wasn't working well.

"I'm angry because I know we can do a lot more and hope that, in the future, we can express our full potential."

As a result, Terol - who has claimed a rostrum result this year with third place at Aragon - and Ryde will cease competition on MV Agustas and the team will look to secure a new manufacturer for the remainder of the season.

No early hint at a replacement has been made by Schmidt Racing, but a strong possibility could be a switch to Yamaha, the machinery Ryde began the season on with Ranieri Med - SC Racing before the squad unexpectedly withdrew after the Imola round.

Yamaha is also rumoured to be launching its updated R6 challenger for next year - while searching for a team to run the bikes as an 'official' Yamaha crew - which may point to Schmidt Racing making a similar switch to Crescent Racing in World Superbikes who ditched Suzuki for Yamaha last winter.

Any confirmation of machinery for the remainder of 2016 is expected over the summer break.

World Supersport has just began its length mid-season pause, with only World Superbikes heading to Laguna Seca, which means the intermediate class won't resume until 16-18 September at Lausitzring.

The highest-placed rider in the current World Supersport championship competing on MV Agusta is GRT Racing's Gino Rea who is fourth with two rostrum results in Assen and Sepang.

In the combined manufacturers' championship MV Agusta is third behind Kawasaki and Honda.