Andrea Iannone has dropped his biggest hint yet that a return to world championship racing in 2024 is his main goal, with WorldSBK seen as the likely destination.
Dominique Aegerter is still searching for better pace over race distance, although the WorldSBK rookie made waves down under on the final day of pre-season testing at Phillip Island.
GRT Yamaha have officially taken the covers off their 2023 WorldSBK machine as Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner get set for their second pre-season test of the year.
Back-to-back top ten finishes during the two-day WorldSBK test at Jerez has left Danilo Petrucci feeling strong about his performance ahead of Portimao, although ‘I still don’t have the bike 100% in my hands’, says the Italian.
WorldSBK rookie Remy Gardner has taken another dig at KTM after stating he had to ride their MotoGP bike ‘like a f***king animal every lap and every single corner’.
After just one test on a Yamaha WorldSBK machine, Remy Gardner has already pointed to areas which allow him to ride more naturally compared to a MotoGP bike.
Remy Gardner believes KTM ‘did me a favour’ by leaving him out of its MotoGP plans, while Ducati expressed WorldSBK interest before electing to sign with Yamaha for the 2023 season.
Garrett Gerloff produced one of his better WorldSBK performances on Sunday in Misano, as he overcame two back of the grid starts (pit lane in race one) to claim an eighth and fifth place.
Garrett Gerloff’s great start to the final WorldSBK race in Estoril was a short-lived one as he lost control of his R1 and hit Michael Rinaldi on the second lap - causing a second consecutive race two incident this year.
Bad weather conditions cut short two-day WordSBK test for Pata Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli - 2020 WorldSSP champion will return for a third test at MotorLand Aragon on May 4.
Marco Melandri was at a loss to explain his terrible pace during the first World Superbike Championship race at a wet Donington Park after finishing last and more than a lap down.
Inaugural World Supersport 300 championship runner-up Alfonso Coppola will graduate up to World Supersport in 2018 as GRT Yamaha’s entry into the European Supersport Cup.
Lucas Mahias and Federico Caricasulo have both been re-signed by the GRT Yamaha squad for the 2018 World Supersport championship, with the team retaining its official factory status for next season.