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Introducing Yamaha’s Factory and Supported Teams and Riders for 2024
February 7, 2024 – For 2024, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. will continue our racing program in line with our basic policy of enhancing the value of the Yamaha brand, developing advanced technologies to feed back to our production machines, and promoting the healthy growth of motorsports.
This year brings changes to our rider lineup in categories from MotoGP to the World Superbike Championship and elsewhere. As Yamaha riders compete on our YZR-M1 MotoGP machine, YZF-R series, YZ series and other Yamaha motorcycles, our aim is to spread the appeal and excitement of motorsports around the world.
In Yamaha’s home base of Japan, our focus is on technological development. In particular, this year we will launch three TY-E 2.2 electric trials bikes to compete in the All Japan Trials Championship, where last year we contested our first full season on an electric trials bike. We will further accelerate development on these machines with our sights set on taking our first win, and subsequently, our first title in Japan’s premier class of trials competition. Through these efforts, our goal is to acquire technology that will lead toward the development of electric motorcycles that improve on ones with internal combustion engines in terms of performance and fun.
In our mission to promote racing worldwide, we will make further efforts through our bLU cRU road racing program, which we began last year as a way to help develop young riders. Through one-make racing series based on the YZF-R3 and held in collaboration with our group companies and affiliates in Asia, Oceania, and Europe, we will rebuild our step-up structure to provide a platform for promising young riders to move onto the world stage of racing.
It promises to be another fantastic year of Yamaha racing in 2024.
Road Racing
Yamaha’s factory “Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP” team will be competing in MotoGP, the world’s premier class of road racing with riders Fabio Quartararo, who finished 10th overall in 2023, and team newcomer Álex Rins. Their mission is none other than securing this season’s MotoGP world championship title aboard the 2024 model YZR-M1 that has received updates in several areas.
In Moto2, Yamaha and VR46 will work together once again as the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team contests its third season in the class. The team’s rider lineup includes Ayumu Sasaki, who was a title contender in Moto3 last season and finished a close runner-up, alongside Jeremy Alcoba, who took 18th overall in Moto2 twice in a row. They have their sights set on achieving strong results toward winning the Moto2 title and making their way into MotoGP in the future.
The Pata Prometeon Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team will compete in the World Superbike Championship (WorldSBK) in 2024. Joining the team is six-time consecutive title-winner Jonathan Rea, who won every title in the Superbike class between 2015 and 2020. Andrea Locatelli will line up for his fourth season with the team as both riders try to bring the title back to Yamaha.
Riders Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner will ride for the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team in 2024. Last season was both riders’ first in the class, and they finished 8th and 9th respectively. This season they are aiming to improve on those results.
There are several riders in the World Supersport Championship (WorldSSP) being supported by Yamaha Motor Europe N.V. (YME) on YZF-R6 machines. They include Stefano Manzi, who finished 2nd overall last season and Lucas Mahias, who won the title aboard a Yamaha YZF-R6 in 2017. After narrowly missing out on a seventh consecutive title last season, the Yamaha teams and riders’ goal will be to reclaim it in 2024.
YME will hold the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU FIM World Cup (R3 World Cup) again this year in cooperation with FIM Europe and Dorna Sports, with the aim of discovering and supporting talented young riders. It is a one-make racing series held in conjunction with WorldSBK and contested with YZF-R3 racebikes. In it, young riders from across the globe will come together to compete and improve their skills. The rider who wins the title this season will be guaranteed an opportunity to enter the Supersport 300 World Championship (WorldSSP300) with support from YME to further hone their racecraft.
A new intiative for this year is the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia-Pacific Championship (R3 APC) set to be held in cooperation with Thai Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. In order to further Yamaha’s intention to develop riders from the Asia and the Pacific regions who can compete on the world stage, participants in the R3 APC will be trained and coached, and the champion will receive support to enter the R3 World Cup for the following two seasons. The championship will get underway in April and be run across six races into November of 2024.
The Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, a young rider development program held in conjunction with Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Riders Academy, will continue as one of Yamaha’s step-up programs along with the R3 World Cup and the R3 APC.
Contesting the Endurance World Championship (EWC) for Yamaha using the YZF-R1 for 2024 is the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team, which will be out to repeat last season’s championship-winning success. The rider lineup remains unchanged, with Niccolò Canepa, Karel Hanika, and Marvin Fritz returning to defend the team’s title.
In the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship, the Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha team will compete in the premier Superbike class. Riders Jake Gagne, who won 11 races last season to take his third consecutive title, is joined by Cameron Petersen, who took 13th overall after missing the second half of the season. The two are looking to bring Yamaha a fourth consecutive Superbike title.
Yamaha Tekhne Racing Team ASEAN, formed through the cooperation of Yamaha group companies in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, will compete in the ASB1000 and SS600 classes of the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC). In ASB1000, Malaysian rider Kasma Daniel Kasumayudin, who finished 6th overall last season, will line up alongside Japanese rider and 2023 SS600 champion Soichiro Minamimoto to race the YZF-R1M. In the SS600 class, Thai rider Apiwat Wongthananon and McKinley Kyle Paz, from the Phillipines, will race on YZF-R6 racebikes.
All four riders competing in the ARRC have participated in the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp and have since gone on to be competitive in the ARRC, Moto3, Moto2 and other series, and will be aiming to win titles in both ARRC classes in 2024.
Motocross/Supercross
For the 2024 Motocross World Championship (MXGP) season, the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team will compete with riders Maxime Renaux, who finished 10th overall in 2023, along with 6th-place finisher Calvin Vlaanderen and Jago Geerts, who took runner-up in the MX2 class four seasons in a row. Aboard Yamaha’s YZ450FM, these three have the challenge of winning the title for Yamaha for the first time since 2015.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team will be competing in MX2 with riders Thibault Benistant, who finished 9th overall last season, Rick Elzinga, who finished 10th overall as a rookie, and Andrea Bonacorsi, who is the 2023 EMX250 European Motocross champion. All three riders will be riding the YZ250FM and aiming to reclaim the title for Yamaha since the last win in 2021.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 Team/250 Team is currently competing in AMA Supercross, with the season already underway since January. In the premier 450SX class, Eli Tomac, who was closing in on winning the title last year but was sidelined with an injury to take 2nd overall, is joined by Cooper Webb, who was with Yamaha until 2018 and returns to the team this season. Justin Cooper makes his full-season debut in the premier class, and the three teammates will be aiming to take the title for Yamaha aboard the YZ450F.
In 250SX, six riders will ride for the team, including standout 2023 rookie Haiden Deegan, who finished 2nd in 250SX East in his first attempt. Competing on YZ250F machines, each rider has their sights set on winning titles in their respective classes and divisions.
The end of May marks the start of the AMA Motocross season, which will feature the same six riders that are competing in Supercross, including Webb and Cooper in 450MX and Deegan in 250MX.
