Yamaha reveals unchanged 2018 World Superbike attack

Pata Yamaha has officially unveiled its 2018 World Superbike championship squad with the unaltered line-up of Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark, with the factory Yamaha World Supersport, World Supersport 300 and Endurance World Championship teams also presented at an event at Portimao.

The Crescent Racing-run Yamaha factory team retains its 2017 rider combination of Lowes and van der Mark having partnered the Japanese manufacturer on its return to the World Superbike championship two years ago after a four-year stretch away.

Last year both Lowes and van der Mark secured multiple podiums on their way to fifth place and sixth place respectively in the 2017 WSBK riders’ championship and will target regular podiums and wins this year in the series.

Andrea Dosoli, Yamaha’s road racing project manager, sees the continuity as key to maintaining its progress up the World Superbike grid as it looks to challenge the dominance of the factory Kawasaki and Ducati teams with the introduction of the new technical regulations for the upcoming season including the maximum rev limiter and development freeze on parts.

“The 2017 season was an incredible one for Yamaha and the results we achieved across all classes mean that we enter into 2018 full of confidence,” Dosoli said. “One of the key factors in motorsport is continuity and it is something we value highly.

“We are delighted to have retained both Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark in the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team after such a promising year for the team in 2017.”

Yamaha also sees an unchanged line-up to its factory effort in World Supersport with defending riders’ world champion Lucas Mathias teaming up with Federico Caricasulo again for 2018 with the team overseen by manager Filippo Conti.