The official return of Yamaha Motor Europe to the World Superbike Championship will come in 2016 In collaboration with their partner Crescent Racing and title sponsors PATA, Yamaha Motor Europe will make its official return to the World Superbike Championship in 2016.Crescent Racing will partner Yamaha as their fully-support Official WSBK Team from 2016. As the World Superbike’s only UK-based team, Crescent has a 20 year racing history that spans the national and global level.
Some of this team’s achievements includes victories in the British Superbike Championship, World Superbike Championship, and the MotoGP.
Yamaha and Crescent Racing’s partnership with PATA seems to be the perfect recipe for success as PATA has a proven track record and passion for motorsport. The title sponsor boasts a high profile presence in the World Superbike.
However, Yamaha Motor Europe will hold responsibility over racing strategy, technical development, and rider agreements with Crescent’s experienced and dedicated racing personnel during Championship rounds.
The team will be composed of 2014 World Superbike Champion Sylvain Guintoli and 2013 British Superbike Champion Alex Lowes who will be riding Yamaha’s YZF-R1.
Frenchman Guintoli has over 15 years of experience in racing with a total of 45 podium wins, 10 race wins, and the 2014 world title under his belt. He’s done it all and ridden it all, in classes that span 250cc, MotoGP, British Superbike, and World Superbike. His extensive experience is sure to bring added success to Yamaha.
On the other hand, Alex Lowes brings youth to the team. On his way to taking the 2013 British Superbike title, the British rider took 20 podiums, eight wins, and six pole positions. Lowes has also competed with Crescent for the last two season so is well acquainted with the team for the WSBK series.
Their strategy is to make full use of the all new YZF-R1 in the premier production Superbike series ridden by these two skilled riders.
The all-new YZF-R1 arrived in 2015 and has already claimed numerous victories as the 2015 racing season draws to a close. One of these victories would be Suzuka 8Hr Endurance race, in which the bike was ridden by MotoGP stars Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith as well as five-time All Japan Superbike Champion Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
Riders such as Noriyuki Haga, Troy Corser, James Toseland, Marco Melandri, and Cal Crutchlow have all delivered numerous victories for Yamaha aboard the YZF-R1.
This re-entry marks the first time Yamaha has been on the WSBK stage since 2011, but they already boast such an impressive history in the championship.
Yamaha took their first World Superbike Championship title back in 2009, a series in which they broke multiple records with American rider Ben Spies.
Yamaha Motor Europe’s Chief Operating Officer, Eric De Seynes said: “This is a very exciting moment for us as we eagerly wait to return to the top level of Superbike competition next year after an absence of four years.
“Having re-written the Supersport rule book and changed the game with the new YZF-R1, directly developed from Yamaha MotoGP technology, it was clear we would need to return to the World Superbike Championship to show the full potential of our new Superbike machine.
“We took one year to grow experience with the new R1 in many other championships where the bike has shown its potential already, with the amazing 8H of Suzuka victory and the very positive results that our official Teams are gathering all around Europe.
“Now we are ready to be back on the world stage and I am happy we have found in Crescent the same values of professionalism, engineering detail and passion for victory we share,” he concluded.