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. Karel Hanika, Niccolò Canepa, Marvin Fritz and reserve-rider Robin Mulhauser 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.
