Dare to Dream: Developing the R9 for WorldSSP – A New Racing Era Begins
A new chapter of Yamaha Racing history began two weeks ago in Australia as the all new R9 made its debut in the FIM Supersport World Championship. And as racing debuts go, the Next Generation Supersport machine did not disappoint.
Introducing a brand-new motorcycle at world championship level is no easy task in the best of circumstances, let alone when the machine being succeeded has a legacy as iconic as the R6.
The development team at Yamaha Motor Europe Motorsport Research and Development have been working on the R9 in secret since early 2024 in close collaboration with the engineers from Japan.
The R9 is a hugely significant new model and to match this significance, Yamaha assembled its strongest-ever rider and team line-up in WorldSSP. Three teams, all former World Champions, (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate, Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing and GMT94) would field a six-strong rider-line up comprising of a mix of youth and experience to give Yamaha the best chance of success with the new machine.
The teams got a first taste of the new bike in WorldSSP spec for the first time in a shakedown test at Cremona last November, before heading off on their own pre-season testing programmes. Poor weather in Europe limited these tests, meaning the R9 headed to Australia for the first race of the season as an unknown quantity.
The official pre-season test at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit showed the bike had potential and as Round 1 got underway, Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) securing a front row start for the R9’s debut race offered further promise.
An exciting race would follow with not just one R9 in the mix but multiple throughout the two-part encounter, which featured mandatory a mandatory pit-stop at the mid-way point. In poetic style, Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate) – twice a runner-up in the WorldSSP championship – took the R9 to victory in its first ever race 126 days after he’d crossed the line first in the R6’s last ever race.
In our latest YouTube video, join the teams in Australia to go behind the scenes of the preparation for the opening races of the year as the R9 makes history. Watch below.
