Just one day after Bradley Smith admitted he was waiting for news of a contract renewal from the Monster Yamaha Tech3 MotoGP squad they have announced a new deal for his underperforming team-mate Pol Espargaro.

Espargaro has been comprehensively out-ridden by Smith all this year but he will remain with the team for 2016 while Smith has to wait for an indication of where he will be next season.

“I’m happy, because renewing my contract with a factory like Yamaha is always going to be fantastic. Yamaha gave me the opportunity to make my debut in MotoGP and together, I think we had a really good first season,” said Espargaro.

“This year we are working hard to improve our results that have not been as strong as we would have liked at this point of the year. However, next season there will be some important changes in the category, such as the alterations to the technical regulations and especially, the changing of the tyre supplier.

“From my point of view, the less you change with regards to the team and the bike, the easier it will be to adapt to all of this. Despite some tricky moments this year, I know the bike and I know I can continue to work well together with Yamaha and Tech3 in order to achieve our goals.

“This announcement is also fantastic following the success at Suzuka, where we undertook some really good work together that concluded in the victory which was great for Yamaha and also for my confidence. Therefore, I hope that this result and the renewal of my contract will help me for the nine races that we still have left in 2015, which is the most important thing for me to focus on right now.”

Unlike Smith, Espargaro's deal is with Yamaha not with Tech3 and brings him into line with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi whose contracts also expire at the end of next season.