MCN: ‘Yamaha set to return to WorldSBK in 2016’
Yamaha will return to the eni FIM Superbike World Championship from the start of next season, according to an article published in Britain’s Motorcycle News (MCN) on Friday. Looking to follow in the footsteps of other manufacturers such as Aprilia, it is reported that Yamaha would not enter a full factory team but as a semi-factory effort.
“The ultimate goal is to move to World Superbikes, but we will only do it when we are ready,” Andrea Dosoli, European Road Race Project Manager for Yamaha, tells MCN. “We do not want to forget what we are doing now with supporting our teams at a local level. But this new structure (of factory-supported teams) is working very well and we want to push it to the next level.
“I would be more than happy if Milwaukee Yamaha could move to WorldSBK because they have done a great job in British Superbikes. It is too early for us to make a return right now, but we will do everything we can to support them next year if they want to move.”
For 2015, the aforementioned Milwaukee Yamaha squad is running a two-rider team of Australians Broc Parkes and Josh Brookes in the British Superbike series. Yamaha last competed on the WorldSBK scene in 2011, on that occasion as a full factory establishment.
