Marvin Fritz: Our Goal Is the Podium, but We're Aiming for Its Top Step

Winning the title last year was a great feeling. I think we accomplished something so amazing that I can't put it into words. After coming close so many times before, it was a big relief to finally deliver the title to everybody, the team members, our sponsors, and to ourselves too.

I have nothing but thanks for my team, but I'm also thankful to my family, my fiancée, and everyone who came to watch us win the title. It was a great memory being able to share that moment with everyone.

That was also my first world title win. I'd won some national titles in the past, but this was the best title I've ever won. As a team, we've wanted to win the EWC title for many years, and in trying to do that, honestly speaking we had some tough times. But we never gave up because that's how YART does things. My teammates had been riding well, and I think the key to us reaching the world title was that we were able to push each other. They, and all of the YART team, helped me grow even more as a rider, so I have to thank them.

You would think that we have more pressure now that we're the defending champions in 2024. But personally, I don't feel any more pressure because even if we miss out on the title this year--which I don't want to happen!--I'll still have been a world champion. I'll have that peace of mind. That is a big plus for me mentally.

This year, the atmosphere in the team is great and I think we're even stronger now, as we showed at Le Mans and Spa. Our R1 is better than it's ever been and it's easy for us to ride. Still, endurance racing is always a challenge. An example of that is at Spa. We knew we'd have to make one more pit stop than our rivals, so we knew we had to push extra hard. Niccolò set a fast pace from the start and Karel and I were able to keep the pace high and open up a gap and that's how we won.

I turned 30 this year, but I still feel like I'm young and have a lot left to learn. Niccolò is 36 and he's so fast, so I can't wait to be 36! [laughs] Right now, I just want to keep racing with this team for many years to come, if possible!

Now that the Suzuka 8 Hours is finally approaching, I think we have everything we need to win the EWC title again. It would be such a great feeling to win it with the #1 on our bike and I don't see any reason why we can't.

To make it happen though, the first thing we have to do at Suzuka is beat our EWC rivals, and to do that, we need to focus on the race itself. Our first goal is the podium but also to stand on the top of it. Our main rivals are the red bikes [laughs] because we know they are always fighting for the podium. Normally, because of them, I would say that it's very hard for us to think about winning the 8 Hours, but this year, I feel like we really do have a chance. As I've said, we're a strong team, we're fast, and I think our pit crew does some of the fastest pit stops on the grid and that can make the difference for us.

Still, anything can happen in a race. If we can do the same thing we did at Spa, we can put up a very good fight. But Suzuka is usually very hot and we never know what the weather will do. Those are things that are out of our control, but it's important for everyone to give their best anyway.

At the 8 Hours you need to have consistent lap times, but you also have to be constantly pushing to go as fast as possible. YART's strength is that all three of us can do this, so in the team, it isn't about who is faster or anything--we all have similar speed so we share the same role.

We were fast last year too, but in the race, we had an issue and Karel had to push the bike back to the pits. This year, we'll try again, so I hope everyone will be waving their blue Yamaha and YART flags and cheering us on in the race.