12 March 2021
Winners of two of last season’s four races, YART Yamaha wrested 2nd place overall in the FIM Endurance World Championship by winning the 12 Hours of Estoril, the final held last September in Portugal. Having added that feather to their cap, the Austrian factory Yamaha team are now targeting the 2021 world title. A win would add a second gold star to the track record of YART Yamaha, the FIM endurance world champions in 2009.
YART Yamaha, who are testing on the Bugatti circuit with Bridgestone this week, are focusing in particular on the settings of their new electronics, which make it possible to exploit all the performance of their Yamaha R1 with a much greater level of detail and finesse.
“We’ve worked on fuel consumption in particular,” says Mandy Kainz, the team manager of YART Yamaha. “We lose races not because of lack of speed but because our fuel consumption is too high. That puts us under pressure against our rivals because it forces us to take more risks on track. At Estoril, for example, we did two extra pit stops and so we had to be very fast and take a lot of risks to win. In working on the electronics, we also have to preserve the bike: less fuel puts the engine at greater risk. For Le Mans, we’re focusing on this work with long-distance tests.”
YART Yamaha will be testing again in ten days’ time. Niccolò Canepa will be back after his foot fracture. Mandy Kainz is very confident. “I’m 99% sure Niccolò will be ready for the 24 Heures Motos. Michael Laverty is our back-up rider and both Marvin Fritz and Karel Hanika, who are young and in top form, are capable of running the race as a twosome.”
29 March 2024
Florian Alt will embark on his eighth season as a Viltaïs Racing rider in 2024 with a clear target to strive for in the FIM Endurance World Championship.On each round of the EWC, Alt and his Honda-powered team-mates, Leandro Mercado, Steven Odendaal and reserve rider James Westmoreland, will be hunting for the podium – and they’ve gone to great lengths over the winter to try to achieve their goal.Having completed EWC 2023 by claiming a fine runner-up spot in the Bol d’Or and with a second-successive Independent Trophy title in the bag, Honda Viltaïs Racing will head to Le Mans next month for the season-opening 24 Heures Motos aiming high, as 27-year-old German ace Alt explains.
28 March 2024
Team 202 will fly the flag of the National Police Motorcycle of Club of France during the upcoming FIM Endurance World Championship season.Florent Parret’s Superstock outfit, which has raced in the EWC since 1998, once again features serving police officers Sofian Lhuillier and Gilles Minutello – along with Parret – in its line-up.And after placing 31st overall and 19th among the Dunlop-equipped Superstock category contenders in last year’s 24 Heures Motos, the Yamaha-powered outfit is hoping to make more progress when the Le Mans event opens the 2024 EWC season next month.“Sofian and Gilles had never participated in the 24 Heures Motos and their knowledge of motorcycle racing was limited,” Parret told 24h-motos.com. “The goal was for them to gain experience. During the race, we had three crashes. Despite this, we consider that the result of the race is satisfactory, because we wanted to take the chequered flag.“We are more relaxed than last year because Sofian and Gilles know what to do and know their limits. Thanks to the experience gained, they will gain speed. They will again approach the race with great caution because endurance is a demanding discipline. If we do not experience hazards, by definition, we should gain places in the ranking. Our goal is to do better than in 2023 by getting closer to the top 20 in the general ranking.”Team 202 has prepared for the 2024 season with tests in Spain and France. It will also take part in the Pre-Test for the 24 Heures Motos from 2-3 April.
27 March 2024
Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team will defend its FIM Endurance World Championship crown carrying the number one on its R1.Although championship-winning teams usually use the number one during their title defence, it wasn’t previously an official requirement in the EWC – until the rules were updated for 2024.According to the regulations from EWC governing body Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, “the world champion of the previous season will wear number 1 during the current season”.However, in the event of YART being unable to defend its EWC title in 2024, it can revert to its traditional number seven in 2025 as “its former racing number will be protected during the period it wears the 1”, in line with the regulations.Marvin Fritz, who partnered Niccolò Canepa and Karel Hanika to the 2023 EWC title, said: “This is something we were dreaming of for a long time and we can’t wait to start the new season with the number one on our bike.”The 24 Heures Motos opens the 2024 EWC season at Le Mans in France from 18-21 April. Click HERE for ticket information. Photo: Facebook.com/MarvinFritz.2