Yamaha To Enter Suzuka 8 Hours with Factory Team to Celebrate 70th Anniversary
*The YZF-R1 shown is for illustrative purposes only, and was created based on the base racebike.
On March 20, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. held the Yamaha Motorsports Media Conference at the Meiji Yasuda Seimei Building in Marunouchi, Tokyo, to announce our racing activities for 2025.
This year Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. celebrates the 70th anniversary of our July 1, 1955, founding, which also marks the 70th anniversary of our motorsports activities that began only 10 days later at the 3rd Mount Fuji Ascent Race. As one part of commemorating this anniversary, we announced the return of our factory entry for the first time in six years (since 2019) for the 2025 46th FIM Endurance World Championship "Coca-Cola" Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Road Race. The 8 Hours is one of Japan's most prominent motorcycle races and this year it is set to be held on August 1-3 at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan.
As a Japanese manufacturer, Yamaha's goal for entering a factory team in the 8 Hours is delivering Kando* to the world by mounting a challenge to lift the first-place trophy at this storied event as fans across the globe look on.
*Kando is a Japanese word for the simultaneous feelings of deep satisfaction and intense excitement that we experience when we encounter something of exceptional value.
The factory team's YZF-R1 that will contest the 8 Hours features white and red, one of Yamaha's trademark color schemes that was first used in the 1964 Grand Prix World Championship. The special new design is inspired by the Yamaha Racing Team's YZF-R7 first released in 1999 in a limited edition of 500 units worldwide, and that raced in the 8 Hours that same year.
The team is called the "Yamaha Racing Team," the same name that was used by our factory team in the late 1990s, and the team logo is a version of the logo used at the time with an updated motif. Rider and team staff clothing, and the look of the team's garage itself, are coordinated to reflect the 1999 design.
The rider lineup features the highly experienced Katsuyuki Nakasuga, who has won a total 89 races and 12 titles in JSB1000, Japan's premier class of road racing, along with four wins at the 8 Hours. Nakasuga's two teammates will be selected from among Yamaha riders currently competing in the MotoGP World Championship and Superbike World Championships. As soon as the decision is made, it will be announced on the Yamaha Suzuka 8 Hours Special Website.
Team manager for the factory team is a rider who himself contested the 1999 Suzuka 8 Hours on the YZF-R7 in addition to winning an All Japan title on the iconic machine: Wataru Yoshikawa, one of Yamaha's star factory riders in the 1990s and a rider who represents that era of racing to many.
1999 YZF-R7
The YZF-R7 mounted a newly developed engine with a compact three-axis layout featuring a single-unit cylinder block and crankcase, titanium connecting rods and twin injectors on an aluminum Deltabox II frame. It also featured equipment like an Öhlins upside-down front fork and Öhlins rear suspension unit with the aim of providing special specs for a base machine for competing in the Superbike World Championship and All Japan Road Race Championship.
Used by Yamaha's top team in the Suzuka 8 Hours from 1999 to 2002, its best finish was 4th, achieved by Noriyuki Haga/Regis Laconi in 1999 and Wataru Yoshikawa/Takeshi Tsujimura in 2002.
Meanwhile, in the Superbike class that was the pinnacle of the All Japan Road Race Championship at the time, Wataru Yoshikawa won the title in his rookie season in 1999, while in the Superbike World Championship, Noriyuki Haga finished second overall in the 2000 season.
