In 2015, Yamaha Motor celebrated its 60th anniversary and debuted an all-new YZF-R1. For the 38th Suzuka 8 Hours that year, Yamaha brought back its full factory team—and its iconic #21 race number—for the first time in 13 years. Featuring All Japan star Katsuyuki Nakasuga and MotoGP riders Pol Espargaró and Bradley Smith, the team stormed to Yamaha’s fifth victory in the event and its first in 19 years since Noriyuki Haga and Colin Edwards’s win in 1996.

Yamaha faced the 2016 Suzuka 8 Hours by bringing World Superbike (WorldSBK) contender Alex Lowes into its line-up alongside Nakasuga and Espargaró. The team clinched back-to-back wins, a feat not seen since the repeat wins of Martin Wimmer/Kevin Magee in 1987 and Wayne Rainey/Kevin Magee in 1988. In 2017 at the commemorative 40th Suzuka 8 Hours, Yamaha fielded an all-R1 rider squad of Nakasuga, Lowes and Michael van der Mark and the three accomplished what had eluded every Yamaha team to date: three straight victories. While carving out a new piece of racing history, they also illustrated the true potential of the YZF-R1.

For this year’s 41st running of the race, the #21 Yamaha Factory Racing Team faces a new mission: to once again take the YZF-R1 to the top of the podium in its 20th anniversary year. And this time, that entails taking an unprecedented fourth victory in a row.

The challengers for this task will be the same as last year, Nakasuga, Lowes and van der Mark. Though the three are top-level competitors aboard their R1s in the All Japan and SBK classes, their real strength lies in the rock-solid teamwork that has come about through their mutual respect and trust in each other, built up during the process of taking three wins in a row.

Something else to keep an eye on this year will be the YZF-R1 itself. With the massive stock of data built up since the 8th-generation model’s debut in 2015, the R1’s reliability, fuel economy and outright performance—all factors vital to winning the Suzuka 8 Hours—have been improved for greater competitiveness. And to mark 20 years since its introduction, the factory machine will feature the 1st-generation model’s “YZF” and “R1” logos and red and white livery, as well as a special 20th Anniversary logo. The riders, team and machine will form united front in pushing for a historic fourth consecutive 8 Hours victory.