Yamaha Prepare for Final Push to Clinch EWC Title in Oschersleben
After securing the second consecutive win at the Suzuka Circuit, Yamaha is back on track just four weeks later to show the incredible potential of the YZF-R1 at the final 2016 FIM Endurance World Championship round held at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Germany, on 24-27 August. Yamaha’s regular endurance teams, the YART Yamaha Official EWC Team and GMT94 Yamaha Official EWC Team, are more determined than ever to hit the front at the 19th edition of the German Speedweek this Saturday during the eight-hour race.
After a challenging start for YART in Le Mans in April, which saw the them complete the entire 24-hour race with just two riders, and a solid fourth place in Portimão despite being required to make an extra stop, the tide changed for the Austrian team at the third round. The #7 bike secured a perfect fourth place in the Suzuka 8 Hours race, which has the biggest and strongest field of the championship.
Their strong performance in Japan has moved the team up to joint second place in the standings on 60 points, eight behind the leaders, with 35 points to fight for this weekend. To bridge this margin and secure the team’s second EWC title, its first since 2009, Broc Parkes and Marvin Fritz will be joined by 2015 Suzuka Endurance Race winner and Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Bradley Smith.
After a dramatic start to the 2016 season in Le Mans, GMT94 riders David Checa, Niccolò Canepa and Lucas Mahias bounced back with incredible force, securing a sensational win at the 12 Hours of Portimão by just 0.081s and collecting seven valuable points for the championship in Suzuka, finishing in 14th position.
The French team currently lies in sixth place in the rankings, 16 points from the top, and is eager to take on the six other permanent endurance teams that are in contention for the title win.
Besides Yamaha’s EWC teams, its SST division is also well placed to take the Superstock title. After two strong races in France and Portugal, Team 3ART Yamaha Yam’Avenue are only one point behind the leaders and have nothing to lose in their battle for gold this weekend in Germany. Yamaha Viltaïs Experience and Slider Endurance are positioned just outside the top10 in 11th and 12th place respectively.
The Motopark Oschersleben was first opened in 1997 and the arena has grown by the years and developed into a famous and unique racing area, leading to the re-naming in 2015 to the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. At this unique track the visitors can enjoy the racing action from stands that are placed six to eight metres above the 3.696 km long track, measuring only 11-14 metres in width. It is the perfect place to experience endurance racing from up close.
Mandy Kainz
YART Yamaha Official EWC Team Manager
“We are heading to Oschersleben with only one intention: to win the title. Oschersleben is like a home away from home for us and we will give 100% to deliver another strong performance. We secured a solid third place here last year, but this year we aim for bigger and better things. We are up against six other teams in the battle for the championship title, so this promises to be a very exciting showdown to what has been an incredible endurance season, with a few setbacks but also many great moments for us where we showed our incredible speed. We have Bradley joining Broc and Marvin for the final race, so we are confident that we have the best riders to bring the YZF-R1 and Yamaha the victory.”
Broc Parkes
YART Yamaha Official EWC Team Rider
“I’m really excited for the weekend. It’s still endurance racing so you never know and the championship standings are wide open. However, we are in a good position and it’s exciting to have Bradley in the team, I’m happy about that, we are good friends. He lives in Andorra like me and we hang out quite a bit when he’s here. Together with Marvin, we have a really strong team and I look forward to starting the race.”
Marvin Fritz
YART Yamaha Official EWC Team Rider
“Since the Endurance race at Portimão I had six IDM Superbike races, winning all. I’m currently leading the German Superbike Championship and I’ve been on the bike a lot. I also really enjoyed riding the YZF-R1M at the Yamaha Racing Experience event with all the Yamaha people at Silverstone few weeks ago. At the moment I just do my fitness training, specially cycling and running. We are second in the Endurance World Championship and the main target for Oschersleben is to win the race. Everyone is speaking about winning the title there, but I think the most important is to do our job like we always do. We have a really strong team, with Broc Parkes and Bradley Smith and we all are really motivated. I’m really happy to ride with them both at the Endurance showdown for YART Yamaha. I think the strongest point for our bike in Oschersleben will be its good handling and its turning. The track is not so big and I think it’s really good for the YZF-R1.”
Bradley Smith
YART Yamaha Official EWC Team Rider
“My expectations for the race weekend are obviously that it’s not going to be easy. All these guys are used to riding their machine in the endurance environment. Oschersleben is going to be a smaller track than I’m used to and it’s going to be close racing from what I understand, 1’26 lap times means that the pace is going to be close between everybody so the final tenths are going to be important. Oschersleben is also unfamiliar to me, while it’s familiar to other guys, so that’s also going to be tough. I’m going to do lot of studying of the track and a lot of practice laps on Wednesday in free practice to try to learn as much as possible.”
Christophe Guyot
GMT94 Yamaha Official EWC Team Manager
“We are motivated to get back to action at this last round of the championship. After many great races, especially the one in Portimão, we are really looking forward to this final battle. It will be a special occasion: six teams will fight for the title, which is great for the sport and the passionate endurance fans. We are just 16 points behind and we are confident that we can challenge for a podium place this weekend, because the YZF-R1 is really good and the riders are all extremely motivated and focused on the task ahead. It won’t be easy, but we are eager to go head-to-head with our rivals and are aiming for victory.”
David Checa
GMT94 Yamaha Official EWC Team Rider
“We are in a good position at the moment: we are fighting for the title with a great bike and a strong team. Our target remains the same for every race: we want to win. My teammates and I are fast, the team is performing well and I think we can produce another good result. There are no weak points to our bike, so we have confidence that we can perform at the highest level again, which we need to do if we want to become World Champion. We will push to the maximum from the beginning until the end of the week and we will see what happens.”
Niccolò Canepa
GMT94 Yamaha Official EWC Team Rider
“I’m ready for the Oschersleben week! I had a few days off after Suzuka 8 hours, but now I’m training as usual to be ready. It will be an epic race because we will fight for the title against six others teams, but we have shown that we are one of the best teams in the championship, so we will fight for victory until the end. Honestly, it will be my first time at the Oschersleben circuit, so I don’t know in which area the YZF-R1 will be faster than the others, but I really enjoy the Yamaha bike, so I’m not worried at all.”
Lucas Mahias
GMT94 Yamaha Official EWC Team Rider
“I’m very eager to get back aboard our YZF-R1 this week, I feel 100% ready for the race. I’m currently leading the rider standings and we have a chance to win the EWC title for Yamaha. Our team, both the riders and the mechanics, are in sync and the bike is fast. We’ve had a good run so far and we are all very motivated to give our all again at the final round on Saturday.”