Yamaha MotoGP boss Lin Jarvis has this morning confirmed that Andrea Dovizioso will make his return to competitive racing at Misano aboard a Petronas M1.

The Italian will replace Franco Morbidelli who is being promoted to the factory team half a season early after the sacking of Maverick Vinales.

Speaking at Silverstone, Jarvis said: “The opportunity really is for Franky to grade up. Obviously Franky has been on our on our radar for a while and he’s now in his third year, albeit a difficult year this year. But this opportunity will give Franky the upgrade ahead of schedule to move into the factory team.

“We’ve got a clear plan in place with him and his management to do that, so he’ll be a factory rider in 2022, and with that in mind, and with this weird situation this year, we’ll upgrade him midseason as well.

“We’ve agreed here this weekend also with Andrea and with his management,” Jarvis continued, confirming the growing speculation that the Italian was on the move to the Yamaha squad.

“We have a plan. Once again it’s not signed off yet but I don’t really believe there’s any obstacles to getting that done. What we’re working on now is that Andrea will return in Misano and then he will run this season on Franky’s bikes, and then run a full season next year.”

So with three of the four riders now defined at Yamaha for the coming season, there is still one seat up from grabs in the soon-to-be independent outfit. Jake Dixon is currently on the Petronas M1 for his home GP but it may not be the only chance the young Brit has in his future.

“Let’s say we haven’t got a fixed plan right now,” Jarvis admitted before elaborating further. “Honestly it’s not done, we’re in discussion. Obviously, Jake is doing well, probably, I would expect, if he has a good ride today, you will see Jake again on the bike this year. That’s not a definitive but it could well happen, so let’s see.

“So Jake could be one of the options, also obviously Darryn [Binder] is one of the options that’s been talked about and there are other candidates that we’ve also been talking to. So there is no decision yet, it’s not our number one priority today but I think in four weeks time it will be defined.”

While the paddock has been swamped with rumours surrounding Toprak Razgatlioglu’s potential move to the premier class - despite a two-year extension with Pata Yamaha in WorldSBK - Jarvis was adamant that, at least for now, that was not on the cards.

“The reason why there’s a no for Toprak is, Toprak and his management you saw that, they were also in Austria, so we had a chat there. It was nice, we had a really friendly chat about his future, but they are pretty fixed on staying in the Superbike Championship now, they feel comfortable there, they’re on a mission.

“He wants to win one or two championships in Superbike before he moves. So he can’t really win the championship this year and switch out for next year to go MotoGP because their championship finishes too late.

‘You know they are on equal points at the moment, so it’s not easy, so he will stay definitely ‘22 in superbike. But if he becomes champion this year, and does very, very well next year, why not 2023, maybe we’ll see him here. For sure he’s really talented rider.”