Ray excited ahead of second WorldSBK season and Australia debut: "We now have more experience"
The Yamaha Motoxracing Team launched their expanded WorldSBK and WorldSSP300 projects in a joint event in Rome
The season of team launches has well and truly begun for the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, with the Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team becoming the first squad to formally introduce their full line-up and livery for the upcoming campaign. Retaining Bradley Ray for a second season together and expanding the project to the WorldSSP300 class for 2024, an exciting and intriguing season awaits for the Italian outfit.
The Motoxracing team presented their 2024 line-up at their headquarters in Fiano Romano, approximately 40 kilometres north of the Italian capital. After competing exclusively in the European rounds of the WorldSBK season in 2022 and 2023, this year the team will be on the grid for all 12 rounds for the first time, including the season opener at Phillip Island in late February.
Leading the charge will be 2022 British Superbike winner Bradley Ray, who last year led an encouraging if uneven rookie season in WorldSBK. With injuries and relative inexperience limiting Ray’s results throughout the season, a superb 6th position in Race 2 at Imola nonetheless proved the 26-year-old’s potential, which he will be seeking to capitalise on in his sophomore campaign.
THE TARGET: “Regular top-ten finishes”
The British rider, who will be back testing at Portimao at the end of January alongside most of the WorldSBK grid, is already looking forward to the challenge: “I’m very pleased to stay with Team Motoxracing and to have been at the presentation. I can’t wait to get back on the bike during winter testing and am excited to travel to Australia for the first round of the championship. It’ll be my first visit to Phillip Island. I’m sure we can do better than last season, also because we now have more experience. I want to thank Sandro Carusi and Yamaha for renewing their faith in me; I will continue to do my best to achieve the best possible results.”
Team Principal Sandro Carusi has also set out a target for what will be a busy campaign for the Yamaha Motoxracing team: “We’ve worked hard, and continue to do so, to organise our 2024 season in the best way. We’ll be busy on two fronts, in both the Superbike and Supersport 300 championships. I’m pleased that Bradley will remain with us, because this will allow us to harness the experience gained last season as we aim to score regular top-ten finishes.”
ERCOLANI AND BARTOLINI TO LEAD WorldSSP300 CHARGE
The Yamaha Motoxracing team will also feature on the WorldSSP300 grid in 2024, returning to the feeder series for the first time since 2021. The all-Italian line-up will include two newcomers to the WorldSSP300 class: 2023 R3 bLU cRU European Champion Emiliano Ercolani and former Moto3™ rider Elia Bartolini.
Regarding the new project, Carusi said: “There are high hopes for the 300 team too, with its expert technical staff and two promising young riders. We have the potential to put together a very strong season and will be giving it our all.”
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