Joining the #21 Yamaha Factory Racing Team machine on track will be Yamaha’s second factory team, the YART Yamaha Official EWC Team. This group of Austria-based endurance racing specialists is a well-known fixture of the Suzuka 8 Hours event and competes full-time in the Endurance World Championship with the Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) as its parent organization. This year they will field a special machine and rider lineup for the Suzuka 8 Hours, and aim to take a second consecutive victory for Yamaha alongside the #21 squad.

Team regular and veteran rider Broc Parkes will head this year’s squad. He will be joined by Kohta Nozane and Takuya Fujita from the Yamalube Racing Team, Yamaha’s youth team in the All Japan Road Race Championship JSB1000 class. Nozane is a rookie to the Suzuka 8 Hours, but has already become a regular podium finisher this season in the JSB1000 class and is among the best in Japan’s domestic racing scene. Meanwhile Fujita, who has previous 8 Hours experience, has had a few difficult seasons recently due to injuries, but has made considerable progress and is also a young, up-and-coming Japanese rider like Nozane. The team will be led by Mandy Kainz while the machine they will use is a factory-spec YZF-R1 like the #21 bike. The calm of a veteran paired with the fire of youth will surely be a combination strong enough to beat both domestic and international teams to the top of the podium.