Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) will race in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship in the 2026 and 2027 seasons after securing a seat with the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team. The #62 has been a front runner in WorldSSP ever since he joined the Yamaha family, on both the R6 and R9 machines, but will get to race the Yamaha R1 in 2026 and 2027 after signing a two-year contract.

Manzi joined WorldSSP full-time in 2022 with the PTR Triumph outfit and scored one victory at Portimao, before moving to Ten Kate Racing for 2023. Four wins and 17 rostrums meant he finished runner-up in the standings behind Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), who is competing for the 2025 WorldSBK title. Manzi remained with Ten Kate Racing for 2024 and took more wins and podiums – five and 19 – as he again finished runner-up, this time behind Adrian Huertas.

For 2025, Manzi stayed with the same team, but he got his hands on a new bike as Yamaha introduced the R9 machine. The Rimini-born rider has more wins after 16 races this year, with seven. He leads the standings ahead of Can Oncu (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team) by 59 points after eight rounds, with four rounds and 200 points available across the last part of the season.

The 26-year-old already has experience of the Yamaha R1 machine he’ll ride next year when he got a single day’s worth of testing at his home track at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” during a private test in May, something he called “one of the best days of my life”. With his future secure, Manzi’s focus will be on wrapping up this year’s WorldSSP title, having built up a healthy advantage already over his title rivals.

The move completes the 2026 GRT Yamaha line-up, meaning Dominique Aegerter will not race for Filippo Conti’s team next year. The #77 joined the squad at the same time as Remy Gardner, Manzi’s teammate next season, and impressed with two rostrums in his first season. However, the Swiss rider has been unable to hit the same high notes and will be looking for other opportunities.

Manzi spoke about his WorldSBK future, saying: “I am super happy and proud; this is a step that you dream of when you are riding in the smaller classes – you always want to be in the top class. I am excited to continue with this project with Yamaha because I started with Yamaha in 2023 and every year, we have battled hard and achieved some great results with progress each season. This year, we started a new project with the R9, and it has been going so well, so to continue my relationship with Yamaha with another new challenge is really exciting. I enjoyed riding the Superbike earlier this year, and I am really looking forward to getting started but for now, my focus remains on doing the best job for the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing team in World Supersport until the end of the season.”

Discussing Manzi’s move to WorldSBK, Niccolo Canepa, Road Racing Sporting Manager at Yamaha Motor Europe, said: “Firstly, I would like to extend our thanks to Dominique Aegerter for his hard work and commitment, not only over the last three seasons in WorldSBK but prior to that too. He won two World Championships with Yamaha in WorldSSP before stepping up to WorldSBK in 2023. While our journey together in WorldSBK comes to an end, we are, together with his management, exploring the possibility to keep him in the Yamaha family moving forwards.

“Now is the time to promote another potential Supersport World Champion to WorldSBK, and we are pleased to announce that Stefano Manzi will move to WorldSBK with GYTR GRT Yamaha next year, again an example of Yamaha’s step-up philosophy, promoting the young talent already within our ranks. Over his three years in World Supersport with Yamaha, Stefano has made huge progress, and we have been impressed by his approach which has ultimately put him in the position he is in now, leading the Supersport World Championship by 59 points. He also impressed us as he made his debut on the R1 at the recent Misano test, so for us he was a natural choice for a WorldSBK ride and hopefully he will be making that step as a World Champion.”

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