Lucas Mahias will join Florian Marino and Bastien Mackels in the 2023 World Endurance Championship with the ambitious and rookie KM99 Yamaha team.D
D’Alessio Piana de Motoracing
It's now official: Lucas Mahias returns to his first (double) love. On one side theEndurance, the other Yamaha . The 2017 Supersport World Champion has indeed accepted the offer received from the KM99 team, the Belgian team expected for its debut in FIM EWC 2023, but decidedly ambitious. Even more after this engagement, the third in the order of time after securing the services of Florian Marino et Bastien Mackels.
As we previously announced to you, we have been talking for a long time about a return of Lucas Mahias in FIM EWC. This is done with the KM99 team and the availability of a competitive Yamaha R1 with Dunlop tires. In endurance motorcycle racing, the strong French rider became 2016 Riders World Champion, the result of his transition from Team R2CL Suzuki to GMT94 Yamaha during the current season, winning with Nicolò Canepa et David Checa the 12 hours of Portimao, followed by the 8 hours of Oschersleben.
Lucas Mahias: “since I won the world title in 2016, endurance racing has changed a lot"
« Since winning the world title in 2016, endurance racing has changed a lot, commented Lucas Mahias. " Now there are three 24 hours, so there are new aspects to consider. What we need now is to work as hard as possible to make our bike perform at its best. The team will make its debut in the FIM EWC, but there is no shortage of potential to play at the front. We'll take it slowly, then step by step we'll see what happens ».
The objective of the KM99 team of Gaëtan Schyns and Mario Kupper is to fight tirelessly for the absolute top 5 of the FIM EWC 2023. With possibly a few podiums and, why not, ensuring the conquest of the prestigious title reserved for independent teams in the World Endurance Championship.
