Plans for two wildcards at the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season finale have been announced by the Yamaha-powered OMG Racing UK Team, which currently competes in the British Superbike championship. Riders Kyle Ryde and Ryan Vickers, both of whom have been in the WorldSBK paddock before, plan to be on track at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto when the 2024 season reaches its conclusion.
The team claimed the 2022 title and are in contention to win it this year with Ryde 19 points behind Tommy Bridewell in top spot heading into the series’ ‘showdown’ format, while Vickers is fifth in the standings. Ryde was a podium finisher in WorldSSP on a Yamaha R6 back in 2015 at Donington Park, while Vickers was on a Kawasaki ZX-10RR as recently as 2022, when he stepped in for Leon Haslam at TPR Team Pedercini Racing at the Autodrom Most.
The team will race on a WorldSBK-spec Yamaha R1 machines at the Spanish venue, including the Magneti Marelli electronics used by Yamaha and will work closely with Yamaha Motor Europe Motorsport Racing & Development for their wildcard appearance.
Discussing the opportunity, Ryde said: “It’s obviously really exciting to hear that the team will be going to compete in the final round of the FIM Superbike World Championship at Jerez, and it is something I’m incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to do. I love Jerez, it is such an awesome track. I did a few laps there on my R6 earlier this year, and I really like the circuit, so I’m already itching to get out on the World Superbike-spec R1. The team are working hard behind the scenes now to get it all ready, and I just can’t wait. Thank you to Alan, Paul and all my guys for giving up their time and efforts to give us the chance to ride on the world stage.”
Teammate Vickers added: “I’m really excited to have the opportunity to race at Jerez for the final round of WorldSBK. I’m eager to get out there and give it a shot with the same team and bike, just upgraded to the World Superbike-spec. I think it’ll be a good indication as to where we are as a team and how our bike is compared to the world bike. Kyle and I both feel really good on our R1 in Britain, so it’ll be interesting to see how it feels when we put the World Superbike electronics in. Jerez is one of my favourite tracks, I did a test there on a Superbike back in 2019 and I’m excited to get back there this year.”
Alan Gardner, Team Owner, stated his enthusiasm for the wildcard: “We’re excited to confirm that the OMG Yamaha Team are heading to WorldSBK later this year to compete in the final round of the Championship at Jerez. It’s a great opportunity to show what we can do compared to the other Yamaha teams and riders at a circuit both riders know well. We’re in a good place going into the final few rounds of the British Superbike championship, so we’ll be giving it our all to try and head to the world stage as BSB champions. We’d like to thank Yamaha Motor Europe who will be helping us with setting up the R1, but also to our partners for helping make it happen.”
Team Principal Paul Curran summed up by saying: “It’s great to be able to give our team the chance to compete in WorldSBK at Jerez later this year. The whole team have worked hard to be where we are heading into the final three rounds of the BSB championship, and I think we can put on a strong showing when we get to Spain in October. Jerez is up there as one of the best circuits in the world so naturally we’re hoping to put on a good performance for our fans, partners and ourselves. We have technical support from Yamaha Motor Europe who will assist with setting up the World Superbike-spec Yamaha R1, but I’m confident we’ll use the machinery to our advantage and come away with our heads held high.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com