YART - Yamaha's official World Endurance team - is gearing up for this weekend's WorldSBK round at Most, Czech Republic where Marvin Fritz and local star Karel Hanika will make wild card appearances aboard lightly modified versions of their Yamaha R1s.
The YART Yamaha bikes have been modified to meet the WorldSBK technical regulations whilst retaining many of the specialist components rarely seen in the WorldSBK paddock, but essential when racing for 24 hours at Le Mans and the Bol d'Or.
“We are looking forward to this new adventure in the FIM Superbike World Championship at Most and we are curious to see how our project 'Endurance meets WorldSBK' will go," said team boss Mandy Kainz.
"World championship points would be like a victory for us, as we are clearly inferior on paper. Our target is to see where the two fastest endurance riders on the fastest EWC bike will be placed amongst the WorldSBK runners.
"Out of our last six EWC races we took five pole positions, with Fritz and Hanika taking the fastest lap times in every single session. That’s why we chose the bikes they know, even if we will lose out in a few small areas compared to the pure WorldSBK machines.
"We are not expecting any miracles, but we are also not shy to compare ourselves to those around us. We will also have to work with Pirelli, to set up our bike to suit tyres that are new to us. It will be hard work, but we are all very excited."
For Fritz, this weekend will mark his WorldSBK debut, having spent the last five seasons contesting FIM EWC with the YART Yamaha squad. The German was champion of the IDM Superbike Championship in 2016, while he also won the 2014 IDM Supersport 600 class, both on Yamaha machinery, and he raced at the Czech circuit whilst contesting the 2007 IDM 125cc Championship.
Teammate Hanika, who was born in Brno, has held the lap record at Most since 2019 and will be making his second WorldSBK appearance, having finished in the points at Laguna Seca in 2018. The 25-year-old spent several years in Moto3 after winning the Red Bull Rookies Cup and European Moto3 Championship in 2013. He joined YART Yamaha in EWC last year and was a part of the team’s victories at the 8 Hours of Sepang and 12 Hours of Estoril.
