THE DIVIDED pit idea seems to be catching on. The latest to join the trend, set last year by Rossi and Lorenzo, is the second Yamaha team, Tech 3. But the cause now is not that the Toseland/Edwards pairing use different tyres, but that they hate each other’s guts.
Actually the hatred comes from Edwards, still furious that the English rider quietly poached his crew chief Gary Reynders at the end of last season. The situation was not eased as testing began, and the wall is a recent addition to the pit.
The great divide has stayed also in the Fiat Yamaha pit, even though the original reason (Rossi on Bridgestone, Lorenzo on Michelin) no longer exists. With two such competitive riders, the team found it worked well.
Repsol Honda also introduced a wall when Pedrosa switched to Bridgestones for the final races last year, with Hayden on Michelin … but the wall has now gone.
