Yamaha confirm 2025 six-rider Supersport line-up

Mixture of old and new faces for next season

Stefano Manzi
Stefano Manzi

Yamaha have confirmed their riders for the 2025 FIM Sup⛄ersport World Championship.

Stefano Manzi, twice a former runner-🐻up in the series, will race for🍎 the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate team.

Yuki Okamoto, who won the All Japa💟n Road Racing Championship, will step up along🌺side Manzi.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi, a former World Superbikes race winner, will join GMT94 Yamaha, alongside ex-Supersport champion Lucas Mahias.

The Evꩲan Bros team will undergo a major chan🎶ge next year.

They join Yamaha’s bLU cRU program to prioritise br꧒inging through new talent into WorldSSP.

Can Öncü, former Red Bull Rookies Cup champion, and Aldi Satya Mahendra, the reign🧸ing FIM Supersport 300 World Champion, form the Evans Bros duo.

Yamaha’s 2025 Superꦑsport riders will ride the R9, powered by the manufacturer’s 890cc three-cylinder🔯 engine.

The Yamaha Supersport line-up will feature at a shakedown test at 🍷Cremona on November 7-8 to test the R9.

Yamaha bosses explain selection

Andrea Dosoli, Yamaha’s division manager, said: “We are pleased to announce our new line-upꦉ for the 2025 Supersport World Championship, which marks a new approach for us ꧑in the Supersport category.

“Th🌊e R9 is a very important new model, so to have such a strong line-up in our first year is important. We believe this is the best strategy for us to launch this new era of Supersport for Yamaha.

“Not only does having a diverse line-up, comprising a mix of experience and youth, give us the greatest chance of achieving the best 𒁏results pos𝔍sible for the R9 in its first year of competition, but it also means we have significant input for the development of this brand new model, which is important as we prepare to roll out the race kit for national championships ahead of the 2026 season.

“The global role of our WorldSBK programme is also emphasised by⭕ the support🏅 from YMC in the signing of Aldi Mahendra and Yuki Okamoto, two promising young riders who have risen through the ranks with Yamaha.”

Niccolo Canepa, Yamaha’s s𒀰porting manager, added: “Bringing a brand-new motorcycle to the racetrack is a big task and we needed a rider line-up to reflect the efforts put in by the engineers in our R&D department over th𒀰e last year.

“In our 2025 riders we believe we have a line-up that not only puts us in the best position to 🐲maximise the R9’s potential in its first year of racing, but also exemplifies Yamaha’s racing philosophy.

“In Manzi, we have a rider who is a proven Supersport co🦋ntender having finished runner-up in the world for Yamaha in 2023 a𝐆nd 2024.

“The R9 is a completeܫly different motorcycle to the R6 and will need to be ridden in a different way, from our tests we know the machine’s torque will require more of a ‘big bike’ riding style, itꦓ’s for this reason we have included Michael Ruben Rinaldi, a rider with race-winning WorldSBK experience in our line-up.

“🙈Can Öncü is a young rider with a lot of potential, so we are pleased to have brought him to Yamaha for 2025 as he looks to make the ‘next step’ as a WorldSSP contender in the new bLU cRU Evan ♊Bros team.

“The promotion of Aldi Satya Mahendra and Yuki Okamoto reflects Yamaha’s step-up philosophy, ♒with Aldi progressing from the R3 World Cup to WorldSSP300 and now WorldSSP, and Yuki making the move after winning JSB1000 this season.

“All three of our supported teams for 2025 are proven WorldSSP contenders. The Ten Kate name speaks for itself in the WorldSSP history books and team’s achievements with M🌌anzi in the last two seasons, and Dominique Aegerter before that, show their level.

“Evan Bros Racing have also brought Yamaha two WorldSSP championships in their time on t♈he world stage, while GMT94 are one of the most experienced Superspo✱rt teams on the grid.

“We are confident that with this rid🐟er and team line-up, we can look to unlock the R9’s potential in WorldSSP while the R&D team continue work to develop the package even further.” 

Read More