Published: 04 Sep 2024
Trackhouse Racing to Part Ways With Wilco Zeelenberg for 2025
Former Yamaha team manager Wilco Zeelenberg and Trackhouse Racing will part ways after 2024 following strategic personnel shifts within the team.
In a rather surprising turn of events, veteran MotoGP figure Wilco Zeelenberg and the Aprilia satellite team, Trackhouse Racing, will part ways at the end of the year.
The decision, not initiated by Zeelenberg himself, stems from a strategic personnel shift within MotoGP’s newest addition to the paddock, Trackhouse Racing, rendering the Dutchman’s role redundant.
Zeelenberg, a former 250cc World Championship rider himself, has long been a key figure in the MotoGP paddock and has been instrumental in the reorganization of the dissolved RNF Racing team.
In Trackhouse Racing, he helped build a competitive outfit for the 2024 season, clinching a first podium finish in just the team’s 10th race in the premier class.
The well-oiled Brivio-Zeelenerg machine to break up again
After managing Yamaha’s efforts in the Supersport World Championship in the past, he transitioned to the MotoGP paddock, where he found success as the team manager for Jorge Lorenzo during the Spaniard’s time at Yamaha.
Beginning in 2010, Zeelenberg played a pivotal role in Yamaha’s MotoGP successes alongside Davide Brivio, who reunited with the Dutchman in early 2024 by joining the Trackhouse team.
Welcome to The House, Davide Brivio pic.twitter.com/U3VqDHYCVu
— Trackhouse MotoGP (@TrackhouseMoto) February 8, 2024
The pair were seen as a well-oiled machine, but it appears that the overlapping responsibilities in technical management and organizational duties have ultimately led to Zeelenberg’s exit.
His departure from Trackhouse Racing marks the provisional end of an era, but with Honda and Yamaha struggling for competitiveness in MotoGP and overhauling their team structures, it is likely just a matter of time before new opportunities arise for the incredibly experienced team manager.
