Superbike: Pata Yamaha Team Presentation

Today in the town of Gerno di Lesmo, home of the Yamaha WorldSBK teams, the team that will be protagonist in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was revealed, which starting this year will have greater support from the Yamaha Motor Company.

Present were the two drivers Alex Lowes and the newcomer Michael van der Mark, who can't wait to start the season after carrying out the winter tests.

“I'm really excited about changing teams. I'm very excited, I was looking for a new adventure and I have the feeling that the bike has a lot of potential" – he explained Michael van der Mark – “The winter tests went really well, and when I took the first lap with the R1 I felt I had made the right decision. We worked so hard over the winter to get more speed and improve the bike, and I know I made a good choice."

“We improved a bit in many different areas” – he said alex lowes – “So I'm very happy to get to Phillip Island and understand where we are. We need to be there fighting, but first we need to figure out how to get there and I can't wait to do that. In the Phillip Island test I need to find a little more confidence and a little better feeling, if I can do that I will be very happy ahead of the first race. My goal is to get the best result, I want to show my potential."

Not only the official WorldSbk teams were the protagonists today: Lucas Mahias and Federico Caricasulo, from GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP, showed off their new YZF-R6.

Furthermore, Yamaha will also be present with the Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team, with Florian Marino and Roberto Tamburini, who finished second in the STK1000 in 2015.

The YZF-R3 which we will see in action in the new FIM Supersport 300 World Championship was also presented in Lesmo. Racing in “a class within the class”, known as the R3 bLU cRU Challenge, the young Robert Schotman, Enzo De La Vega, Kimi Patova, Renzo Ferreira, Mykyta Kalinin and Alfonso Coppola took to the stage and will fight for get the crown.

Andrea Dosoli – Project Manager of Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing explained: “2017 represents a very important season for Yamaha which is involved in all classes, highlighting the strong commitment to motorsport and the value of this sport. Not only do we support the pinnacle of the sport, in Superbike, but we also keep in mind the growth of talent and this year we will be present from 300 to 1000cc. Today we finally launch the new season, and it was great to see all the teams and riders so committed to the challenge of the future knowing that they can count on the full support of Yamaha Motor Europe and Yamaha Motor Japan. We will do our best in order to support them technically, humanly and also in all the other services we can provide, to enable them to become faster as drivers, but also to grow as professionals in their careers. Yamaha believes in this talent from the roots up and they, in turn, can rely on the competitive packages resulting from the YZF-R3 to the YZF-R1.”