Yamaha Motor Europe showcases their 2025 WorldSSP lineups ahead of the R9's debut
Yesterday at 03:18 AM
Yamaha hopes their six World Supersport riders will create success with the new Yamaha R9.
For the 2025 World Supersport Championship Yamaha Motor Europe will support three teams. The Japanese manufacturer will continue to support Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing and will take on the GMT94 Yamaha squad and Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team.
The six riders across the three teams will all feature on the new Yamaha R9 at the start of the season. Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing has retained Stefano Manzi and signed Yuki Okamoto. GMT94 Yamaha has signed Michael Ruben Rinaldi and has kept Lucas Mahias. Finally, the Yamaha bLU cRU EvanBros Team has signed Can Oncu and Aldi Mahendra.
With a mixture of experience and youth across their lineups Yamaha hopes that they can have a high level of success with the Yamaha R9 in its debut year.
Andrea Dosoli, Division Manager, Motorsport, Yamaha Motor Europe - "It will be a significant moment when the R9 makes its race debut in Australia later this month. This is an important new model for Yamaha and we have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure we can have as strong a start as possible when the lights go out at Phillip Island.
"The R6 was a WorldSSP legend and it was winning right until the end, so our goals with R9 are the same – we want to be competitive from the very first season and the combination of the hard work from our engineers and teams with the strong rider line-up gives us confidence ahead of the season's start.
"A big thank you to all of the engineers for the substantial effort which has gone into this project so far, and finally I'd like to wish our riders and teams a great season."
Niccolò Canepa, Road Racing Sporting Manager, Motorsport, Yamaha Motor Europe - "We are very excited to see the R9 compete in its first WorldSSP race weekend. Our diverse rider line-up features a mix of experience and youth, giving us a strong chance in the R9's first season.
"Of course, Stefano Manzi finished runner-up in WorldSSP for the last two seasons, so he is keen to fight for the title this year. Michael Ruben Rinaldi comes to WorldSSP from WorldSBK and wants to show his speed straight away, putting his 'big bike' experience to use. Can Öncü has been impressive in testing, as has Lucas Mahias – a former World Champion with Yamaha in 2017, so we have reason to be confident given the depth of talent and potential across our three teams.
"For Yuki Okamoto and Aldi Mahendra, the start of the season is about learning the new bike and class, and in Yuki's case brand new tracks too.
"Our teams have been testing throughout January and the initial signs are positive as we head to Phillip Island for one final test before the race weekend. As this is a completely new project starting from scratch, it is difficult to make precise targets but our goal is to be as competitive as possible from the very start."
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