YART Yamaha Revved Up and Ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans

18-04-2019

YART Yamaha Revved Up and Ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The YART Yamaha EWC Team are ready to resume their 2018/2019 Endurance World Championship campaign this weekend at the historic Bugatti Circuit, as they take on the challenge of the toughest race of the season, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

YART will start as one of the favourites for victory in this weekend’s 42nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In September the team’s riders, Niccolò Canepa, Broc Parkes and Marvin Fritz, fought back from a crash early in the race to finish the Bol d’Or in Le Castellet, the opening round of the 2018/2019 season, in a superb second place.

This podium performance was then backed up with a strong showing during a private Le Mans test in early April that was attended by 50 of the 60 teams that will line up on the grid for the 24-hour race this weekend.

The YART trio ended the two days of testing second on the timesheet and just a tenth of a second off the top spot.Completed in 1966 and incorporating the main straight from the famous Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, the Le Mans Bugatti circuit has been modified extensively over the years, with the current 4.185km layout in use since 2008. The technical nature of the circuit, which combines slow and fast corners with hard braking areas and high-speed changes of direction, makes for many passing opportunities and guarantees close racing for the whole 24 hours.

Practice for the teams has been ongoing at Le Mans since Monday, with the first qualifying sessions due to kick off at 3:40 pm (CEST) local time on Thursday and continue through to Friday before the main event, the 42nd 24 Heures Motos begins at 3:00 pm on Saturday.

Niccolò Canepa

After finishing on the podium on my debut with YART at the Bol d'Or last year, we are ready to return to action this weekend in the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans. We have completed some very successful tests over the winter in which our pace was really strong and the team have worked really hard to improve some details of the bike, so we're in a good position going into this race. It's the toughest race of the year, but I'm really looking forward to the challenge.

Marvin Fritz

We enjoyed a really good pre-season and I've worked hard over the winter to be ready for the first race of the year in Le Mans this weekend. We have had two positive tests in Le Mans and we also tested in Rijeka where, unfortunately, we only managed a few laps due to strong winds and bad weather. The last Le Mans test went well and we found a really good set-up on our YART R1 in both the wet and dry, so we're ready for anything the weather can throw at us this weekend. We have a really strong rider line up and a really good atmosphere in the team, so we're ready for Le Mans.

Broc Parkes

I think we're in a good position going into the race this year, even if we haven't had that much testing time due to the weather here in Europe the last few months. During the testing we have had, all three riders have been really quick and when you look at the teams on paper, I think we've got probably the strongest rider line up of any of the teams in the race this year. I certainly feel good and it's a pleasure to be back here in Europe to race the YART R1 again. The bike feels really strong, we've got a good base set-up for the Le Mans circuit, we're in a good position going into the race and I'm really looking forward to the weekend ahead.

Mandy Kainz

We head into the 24 Hours of Le Mans with some confidence, off the back of a podium finish at the Bol d'Or and limited but very positive winter tests sessions, in which all three of our riders were both fast and consistent. The final test this week in Le Mans, where we able to measure ourselves against our competitors for the first time this year, was mostly wet but we did manage a few dry laps and our pace was good, we were competitive and we had no issues at all with the bike. All three starting riders are confident going into the race, but our reserve rider, Randy Krummenacher, will only turn his first laps on the YART R1 in free practice on Thursday, as he was unable to ride earlier in the week due to illness. He's a two-time race winner already in WorldSSP this season, so I think he will adapt quite quickly. Overall I think we're in a good position to fight for a podium this weekend in Le Mans.