Yamaha factory team returns to EWC Suzuka 8 Hours

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd will return to the Suzuka 8 Hours, Japan’s round of the FIM Endurance World Championship, with a factory team as part of its 70th anniversary celebrations.

For the first time since 2019, Yamaha Racing Team is preparing to contest the iconic event, which takes place from 1-3 August as the 46th Coca-Cola 8 Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race.

Quadruple Suzuka 8 Hours winner Katsuyuki Nakasuga, whose record in the All Japan Road Race Championship’s JSB1000 category totals 89 race victories and 12 titles, is the team’s first signing. Yamaha riders competing in MotoGP and World Superbike will complete the three-strong line-up.

Wataru Yoshikawa, who raced a Yamaha YZF-R7 for the factory outfit in the 1999 Suzuka 8 Hours, has been appointed Team Manager, while a striking white and red colour scheme will flank the squad’s YZF-R1.

First adopted for the 1964 FIM Road Racing World Championship, the commissioning of the design is inspired by the limited-edition YZF-R7 released in 1999 and used during the Suzuka 8 Hours that season.

The use of number 21 is another nod to the past and dates back to 1985 when the Yamaha team was sponsored by the Shideido men’s skincare brand through the TECH 21 range. Although there was heartbreak when Kenny Roberts and Tadahiko Taira retired from the lead of the Suzuka 8 Hours on the start/finish straight with 30 minutes remaining, the Shideido sponsorship continued for a number of seasons, as did the carrying of number 21.

Meanwhile, Yamaha Racing Team’s logo is an updated version of the logo carried in the late 1990s. Rider and team clothing, as well as the pit garage, will reflect the 1999 identity.

During today’s Yamaha Motorsports Media Conference, held at the Meiji Yasuda Seimei Building in Marunouchi, Tokyo, to announce the firm’s racing activities for 2025, it was revealed how Yamaha’s pursuit of ‘Kando’ is central to its return to its home EWC counter.

According to the Japanese manufacturer, its “goal for entering a factory team in the 8 Hours is delivering Kando – a Japanese word for the simultaneous feelings of deep satisfaction and intense excitement that we experience when we encounter something of exceptional value – to the world by mounting a challenge to lift the first-place trophy at this storied event as fans across the globe look on”.

Yamaha was founded on 1 July 1955 and took part in its first motorsport event 10 days later, the 3rd Mount Fuji Ascent Race. Its factory team’s most recent Suzuka 8 Hours victory came in 2018 when Nakasuga was part of the line-up along with Britain’s Alex Lowes and Dutchman Marc van der Mark.

The 46th Coca-Cola 8 Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race forms round three of the four-event 2025 EWC season from 1-3 August. Tickets are due to go on sale on 1 June.

Prior to the EWC’s trip to Japan, the 48th 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans in France hosts the EWC season opener from 17-20 April. Click HERE for ticket information.