Three different structures represent Yamaha's interests in the Superbike World Championship this year: the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team which is the official team (managed by Crescent Racing) with Michael van der Mark et Toprak Razgatlioglu, Ten Kate with Loris Baz, and the GRT with Federico Caricasulo, vice-World Supersport Champion, and Garrett gerloff, defector from the MotoAmerica Championship.
It was understood that Ten Kate would have the same equipment as the official team. Andrea Dosoli, Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Manager, explained that “Our fifth Yamaha R1 rider in the 2020 Championship, Loris Baz, continues his partnership with the Ten Kate Racing team following some very encouraging performances since joining the Championship at round six of 2019. The team Ten Kate Yamaha has a proven pedigree and, combined with Loris' talents and Yamaha's support, has shown that the R1 can be immediately competitive as a customer package. Looking ahead to 2020, we expect exciting results from Loris, a driver who always gives 100%! »
In fact, Loris' R1 will be a little different from the two official bikes. We already knew that Gerrit Ten Kate, one of the two founders of the team with his cousin Ronald, improved the mechanical part of the engine, which made Kervin Bos, the team manager of Ten Kate, say, “Yamaha has a strong package, what we can improve is the engine. With the new engine, it looks like everything is in place to find more power. For the World Superbike Championship, this is a big improvement – last season Ducati had around ten horsepower more than anyone else. Just look at the top speed numbers. »
Ten Kate wants to maintain as much independence as possible, but at the same time receive maximum support from Yamaha.
Baz is currently testing in Jerez with the tank, saddle and fairing from the 2020 model, but the engine used is the same as last year. “The new engine hasn't made much difference so far, and our Ten Kate engine is working very well, » declared team manager Kervin Bos. “We prepared the cylinder head ourselves. There are many options for tuners, such as improving the intake and exhaust ports. We could also have our own camshafts homologated, but this would require a lot of engine experience. And it's a big investment. »
“At the moment this is not necessary for us, we must first assemble all the existing parts correctly. The new engine will ultimately be better, but it will take some time. I can’t say what progress we will make with it, we haven’t finished the 2020 bike yet.”
The Superbike World Championship regulations stipulate that private teams must be able to have the same electronics as factory teams, but the reality is different. It is true that a team like Ten Kate has the same hardware and the basic software is identical. But when it comes to details, there are differences: Ten Kate has to make do with fewer data channels, so the team can't make such detailed adjustments.
“We will have to work with this,” said Bos to Ivo Schützbach from Speedweek. com. “ We have worked hard so that we can use all channels, but we are still limited. Yamaha Japan has determined this. »
To protect the factory team or to protect yourself? “The truth is probably in the middle,” said the Dutchman. “Everyone judges it differently. »
Loris Baz shared a video “Well for now it’s raining in Jerez! So I'm reviewing my notes for the month of November! »
Photos © Yamaha Racing