Yamaha have announced the riders who will race for the three supported teams in the FIM Supersport World Championship in 2025, with some big names joining the Japanese manufacturer. Michael Ruben Rinaldi moves to WorldSSP with the GMT94 Yamaha squad, while Can Oncu and Aldi Mahendra will link up together at the Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team, which will become part of Yamaha’s bLU cRU programme. At Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing, Stefano Manzi is joined by Yuki Okamoto for next season.
RINALDI MOVES TO WORLD SUPERSPORT: a new challenge for the WorldSBK race winner
Rinaldi has raced in WorldSBK since 2019, for various Ducati-powered teams as he worked his way to the factory Ducati outfit in 2021. He claimed his first of five race wins at MotorLand Aragon in 2020, with Team GoEleven, before moving to the Aurba.it Racing – Ducati team. He claimed two wins in 2021 on home soil at Misano before a third came in Barcelona that season, before a winless 2022 campaign. He returned to the top step of the podium at Aragon in 2023 but it wasn’t enough to keep his seat, with Rinaldi moving to Team Motocorsa Racing for 2024 but this proved to be a challenging year for both team and rider, with the #21 not staying there for more than a season. For 2025, he’ll race in WorldSSP with GMT94 Yamaha, alongside Lucas Mahias, as the team have a two-rider line-up as Yamaha introduce the R9 machine.
ONCU AND MAHENDRA LINK UP: two riders at Evan Bros. Yamaha
Oncu has had five seasons in WorldSSP, all on Kawasaki machinery, but the youngest Grand Prix winner will face a new challenge next year as he joins the Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team. The #61 is a race winner, after he claimed victory in Indonesia in 2023. The Turkish star was impacted by a bad hand injury following a crash at Assen with Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team), although he did get a podium at the end of the season. He’ll be alongside 2024 WorldSSP300 Champion Aldi Mahendra, who steps up to WorldSSP after a title-winning campaign. The Indonesian rider has made his way through the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup to WorldSSP after a rapid rise through the ranks.
TEN KATE RACING LINE UP: Manzi joined by Okamoto
Manzi was already confirmed as staying with Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing but he’ll have a new teammate for 2025. Yuki Okamoto will move from the All Japan Road Racing championship, in the JSB1000 category after he won the title, to WorldSSP to make his debut on the world stage. Manzi will have his third season with the Dutch team as he looks to go one better than he did this season, when he finished second behind Adrian Huertas.
DOSOLI SAYS: “The R9 is a very important new model, so to have such a strong line-up in our first year is important”
Speaking about Yamaha’s line-up, Yamaha Motor Europe’s Andrea Dosoli, who is the Division Manager in the Motorsport Division, said: “We are pleased to announce our new line-up for the 2025 WorldSSP Championship, which marks a new approach for us in the category. The 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 results possible 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.”
CANEPA’S VIEW: “From our tests, we know the machine’s torque will require more of a ‘big bike’ riding style…”
Speaking in his new role of Road Racing Sporting Manager, Niccolo Canepa 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 the 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 WorldSSP contender having finished runner-up in the world for Yamaha in 2023 and 2024. The R9 is a completely 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, it’s for this reason we have included Michael Ruben Rinaldi, a rider with race-winning WorldSBK experience in our line-up. Can Oncu 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 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 Manzi 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 the world stage, while GMT94 are one of the most experienced Supersport teams on the grid. We are confident that with this rider 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.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com