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may 19, 2022 - Yamaha Racing

YART Yamaha Get to Grips with Spa-Francorchamps

The Yamalube YART Yamaha Official EWC Team ended the two-day Pre-Test at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in third overall ahead of Round 2 of the #fimenduranceworldchampionship, the 24H Spa EWC Motos on the 4 & 5 June.

The EWC returned to the legendary Belgian Circuit for the first time since 2001, and the YART Yamaha team wasted no time getting acquainted with the new endurance-specific 6.985km layout. #karelhanika, #niccolocanepa, #marvinfritz and reserve-rider #robinmulhauser made the most of the two bikes available to them during the test, with the latter two using their prior experience at the circuit to help their teammates get up to speed.

During the two-day Official Pre-Test, the Austrian squad focused on finding a good electronic setup with their #7 Yamaha R1 for the upcoming 24-hour race. They also had several new Bridgestone tyre compounds to evaluate. On the opening day, they completed 107 laps and finished second on the combined timesheets with a 2:21.322, 0.435s behind the leaders. Improving on day two, they finished just 0.216s off the top with a best time of 2:20.560 after 221 laps in total, which was good enough to see them end the test in third overall.

The Yamalube YART Yamaha Official EWC Team will be back in action at the Spa circuit on May 31st for one final day of testing before the 24H Spa EWC Motos kicks off with practice on the 2nd and 3rd of June, followed by qualifying and the race on the 4th and 5th.

Karel Hanika
Yamalube YART Yamaha Official EWC Team
“The Pre-Test went well overall. As soon as I rode the track, it was love at first sight. There are some beautiful sections that really suit our Yamaha R1. We still need to improve some small things, but we worked hard to try and find the best electronic setup and tyre solutions for the race. #racing here will be interesting, as it gets very dark at night, but I am pretty happy overall. My Team and teammates did a great job, and I can’t wait for the race.”

Niccolò Canepa
Yamalube YART Yamaha Official EWC Team
“Everything went great, and I am excited for the race at this amazing circuit! The track is unbelievable, it is incredibly fast and a lot of fun to ride. The R1 works really well here and I am looking forward to seeing what we can do during the race. We collected a lot of data, and we know the areas we need to improve so that we can come back ready for the race.”

Marvin Fritz
Yamalube YART Yamaha Official EWC Team
“We had a really good test, and the weather was amazing. We tried a lot of different settings with the electronics, and we also had some new tyres to test, which worked really well. Overall, we are pretty happy, the bike is really easy to ride, and our pace is pretty strong. We didn’t try to push for a fast time, so to finish in third overall means we are fast, plus we found some really good solutions for the race. Karel, Niccolò, and Robin did an excellent job. Between us, we tested many things, we have some tweaks to make, but I am already looking forward to the race.”

Robin Mulhauser
Yamalube YART Yamaha Official EWC Team Reserve Rider
“Spa-Francorchamps is an amazing track. It is very fast and has some tricky sections that make it difficult to learn, but the whole team worked hard to get up to speed. The R1 was working really well around the circuit and was easy to ride, plus we managed to test a lot of different things. We managed to find a really good setup, and the whole team is now focused on the race.”