2025 Yamaha WorldSSP assault
Stefano Manzi will spearhead Yamaha’s assault on the 2025 FIM Supersport World Championship, racing once again for the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Team with whom he has twice finished as vice-champion in the immediate class. The Italian will be joined by Japan’s Yuki Okamoto, who steps up to the world championship after an impressive season in the All Japan Road Racing Championship saw him win the JSB1000 title.
Five-time WorldSBK race winner Michael Ruben Rinaldi will race with Christophe Guyot’s GMT94 Yamaha as he makes his debut in the Supersport class. He’ll join former FIM Supersport World Champion Lucas Mahias in GMT94’s 2025 line-up.
Twice world champions for Yamaha, the Evan Bros team will take on a new-look for 2025, becoming part of Yamaha’s bLU cRU program to introduce young riders to WorldSSP. 21-year-old Can Öncü, a former Red Bull Rookies Cup champion, joins the new team as he looks to build on a WorldSSP career that’s seen him achieve a race victory and 14 further podiums.
Öncü will be joined in the Evan Bros team by reigning FIM Supersport 300 World Champion, 18-year-old Aldi Satya Mahendra. This is a clear example of Yamaha’s step-up philosophy, which has seen Mahendra progress from the R3 bLU cRU World Cup, to WorldSSP300 and now to WorldSSP, and Okamoto promoted onto the world stage after winning the JSB1000 title this season.
Andrea Dosoli
Yamaha Motor Europe Motorsport Division Manager
“We are pleased to announce our new line-up for the 2025 Supersport World Championship, which marks a new approach for us in the Supersport category. The R9 is a very important new model, so to have such a strong line-up in our first year is important. We believe this is the best strategy for us to launch this new era of Supersport for Yamaha.
“Not only does having a diverse line-up, comprising a mix of experience and youth, give us the greatest chance of achieving the best results possible for the R9 in its first year of competition, but it also means we have significant input for the development of this brand new model, which is important as we prepare to roll out the race kit for national championships ahead of the 2026 season. The global role of our WorldSBK programme is also emphasised by the support from YMC in the signing of Aldi Mahendra and Yuki Okamoto, two promising young riders who have risen through the ranks with Yamaha.”
Launched by Yamaha Motor earlier this year, the R9 represents a new generation of Supersport motorcycle powered by Yamaha’s award-winning 890cc three-cylinder engine. Engineers at Yamaha Motor Racing Europe (YMRE) have been working on developing the R9 for Next Generation WorldSSP rules for over a year with the project unveiled at the final round of the 2024 season at Jerez.
The R9 will make its race debut in the WorldSSP Championship, while Yamaha Motor Europe works alongside its teams and riders to develop the package before releasing a race kit for national championships ahead of the 2026 season.
The new WorldSSP line-up will get their first real taste of the R9 WorldSSP in a shakedown test at Cremona this week, before the teams then embark on their own winter testing schedule ahead of the opening round of 2025, set to take place at Phillip Island, Australia between 21-23 February.
Niccolò Canepa
Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Sporting Manager
“Bringing a brand-new motorcycle to the racetrack is a big task and we needed a rider line-up to reflect the efforts put in by the engineers in our R&D department over the last year. In our 2025 riders we believe we have a line-up that not only puts us in the best position to maximise the R9’s potential in its first year of racing, but also exemplifies Yamaha’s racing philosophy.
“In Manzi, we have a rider who is a proven Supersport contender having finished runner-up in the world for Yamaha in 2023 and 2024. The R9 is a completely different motorcycle to the R6 and will need to be ridden in a different way, from our tests we know the machine’s torque will require more of a ‘big bike’ riding style, it’s for this reason we have included Michael Ruben Rinaldi, a rider with race-winning WorldSBK experience in our line-up. Can Öncü is a young rider with a lot of potential, so we are pleased to have brought him to Yamaha for 2025 as he looks to make the ‘next step’ as a WorldSSP contender in the new bLU cRU Evan Bros team.
“The promotion of Aldi Satya Mahendra and Yuki Okamoto reflects Yamaha’s step-up philosophy, with Aldi progressing from the R3 World Cup to WorldSSP300 and now WorldSSP, and Yuki making the move after winning JSB1000 this season.
“All three of our supported teams for 2025 are proven WorldSSP contenders. The Ten Kate name speaks for itself in the WorldSSP history books and team’s achievements with Manzi in the last two seasons, and Dominique Aegerter before that, show their level. Evan Bros Racing have also brought Yamaha two WorldSSP championships in their time on the world stage, while GMT94 are one of the most experienced Supersport teams on the grid.
“We are confident that with this rider and team line-up, we can look to unlock the R9’s potential in WorldSSP while the R&D team continue work to develop the package even further.”
