2023 World Superbike Championship Yamaha R1s
Yamaha's 2023 World Superbike Championship riders
Bradley Ray – Motoxracing Yamaha
Dominqiue Aegerter – GYRT GRT Yamaha
Lorenzo Baldassarri – GMT94 Yamaha
Andrea Locatelli and Toprak Razgatlioglu – Pata Yamaha Prometeon
Ahead of the official test at Portimao, the liveries of the four World Superbike Championship Yamaha teams have been revealed.
The Japanese manufacturer enters the 2023 season with a wealth of talent spread across four teams: Pata Yamaha Prometeon, GYRT GRT Yamaha, GMT94 Yamaha and Yamaha Motoxracing.
Toprak Razgatlioglu leads the charge in the factory Pata Yamaha squad, returning to his traditional number 54 after losing out to Alvaro Bautista in last year’s title fight. He’s joined once again by Andrea Locatelli.
Razgatlioglu bounced back from a tough start to end 2022 second overall after securing 14 races wins – taking his grand total to 32. The Turkish rider finished 72 points behind Bautista.
“Everybody knows now, my goal is to win as many races as possible,” Razgatlioglu said. “It is not easy, because all the riders are strong, but I am happy with the work Yamaha and the team have done this winter. It’s good for me to be back on my bike, I am happy about this, and we have many improvements to try during the tests.
“In Jerez, I saw a very good lap time; not the record but very close – now we continue working, because we cannot stop. It is nice to see the new Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK colours– looks good, I think! We will keep working now to continue make everything better, but very soon we are ready to race.”
2023 marks Locatelli’s third season in WorldSBK. The Italian finished fifth overall last season, with a best result of second at Assen. In total, Locatelli secured 22 top six finishes and two podiums, but lost out on fourth spot to Michael Ruben Rinaldi by 19 points.
“It has been a really short winter, which for a rider is good,” Locatelli said. “I am really happy to start the season again –my objective is to continue to work step-by-step, but I think we can do very well this year. We finished the season in a good way in Indonesia and Australia. I want to close the gap to the front and fight for the podium, and to try to win!
“Last week in Jerez was just the first two days in the dry, so we still have some work to do these days in Portimao, but I am looking forward to the first round in Australia. The bike looks really nice, with the new colours and everything, and it is great to continue with Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK for our third season together.”
The updated livery remains largely unchanged from 2022, with the biggest change being the introduction of Prometeon Tyre Group (producers of specialised heavy transport tyres) sponsorship. The company replaces Brixx, which means there’s less red on the 2023 livery. Instead, the Prometeon branding introduced more white and navy blue.
Meanwhile, GYRT GRT Yamaha has an all-new line-up this year after signing 2021 Moto2 World Champion Remy Gardner and double World Supersport World Champion (2021 & 2022) Dominique Aegerter. The latter also won the MotoE title last season.
Gardner joins the WorldSBK paddock after a tough year in MotoGP with Tech3 Racing KTM. The Aussie finished 23rd overall, one spot behind teammate Raul Fernandez, with a best result of 11th at Jerez.
The team’s blue livery also features additional black thanks to its R1 branding, alongside splashed of red and white through sponsorship details.
Elsewhere, 2022 WorldSSP runner-up Lorenzo Baldassarri joins GMT94 Yamaha and will run a more traditional, simplified blue design.
2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship winner Bradley Ray completes Yamaha’s five-rider line-up. Ray joins Motoxracing Yamaha and will only compete in the European rounds of the championship.
Like Baldassarri, Ray’s livery is primarily blue and black, with dashes of yellow and green due to sponsorship branding. Ray will make his WorldSBK debut at the two-day Portimao test, which gets underway today (January 31).
The opening round of the 2023 WSB season takes place at Phillip Island on February 24-26.
Keyword: WSB: Yamaha unveils its 2023 team liveries