Yamaha introduces the Racing Line bikes for the 2015 season, and the bikes have been presented to the media in a dedicated event which took place in the Italian headquarters at Gerno di Lesmo, miles north of the iconic circuit of Monza. Of course, all eyes have eagerly waited to see the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 Factory, a bike which blends in the cult sporty heritage of the model, the massive updates the model received for 2015 and the track-focused upgrades which turn it into a real racing machine.
The 2015 R1 Factory is the creation of Yamaha’s new racing division in Germany. However, the boss of this project is still an Italian guy, Andrea Dosoli. The Road Racing Project Manager was clearly thrilled to see wraps coming off from his creation, and said that the R1 in stock trim proved to be a very satisfying basis for developing a racing bike.
He also told the media that he expects to see a very competitive bike this year, and good results in all the classes it will run in. The R1 Factory will show up in the IDM Superbike (International German Championship) and in the World Endurance championship. Speaking about IDM, Team Yamaha Motor Deutschland ended the 2014 in the 8th position, with Ducati machinery leading in the first two places, followed by two BMW S1000RR machines, a BMW HP4, a Honda and a Kawasaki.
Yamaha plans a return as full-fledged factory team return to WSBK
Dosoli and his team worked hard in the last months to fit and adapt race-grade parts to the stock R1, while at the same time developing new bike electronics to suit the purpose. So far it looks like the current development stage is quite rewarding, at least as far as tests have shown.
Yamaha has not hidden their interest in returning to the WSBK as a full-fledged factory team. In the absence of any in mention on which series are envisioned, we can only speculate that Iwata is eyeing a much stronger presence in Superstock and possibly a solid move in the Superbike championship in 2016.
The attributes of the German division will only become more and more important, as Yamaha plans to use them as the main hub for developing bikes for even more projects such as customer versions for the racing R125 and R3 machinery.
The Italian event also introduced the rest of the official Yamaha teams in the two-wheeled sport, as follows:
- Endurance World Championship:
Monster Energy Yamaha - YART: Broc Parkes, Ivan Silva, Max Neukirchner;
GMT94 Yamaha Racing Dunlop Team: David Checa, Kenny Foray, Mathieu Gines.
- Superstock 1000
Team MRS Yamaha: Florian Marino, Kev Coghlan.
- British Superbike Championship
Milwaukee Yamaha: Joshua Brookes - Broc Parkes.
- IDM - International German Championship
Team Yamaha MGM - Michael Galinski Motorsport: Max Neukirchner, Damian Cudlin.
- MXGP:
Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube: Jeremy Van Horebeek, Romain Febvre.
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