A decisive two days of WorldSBK testing awaits for the Yamaha team as it looks to kick off the 2025 season at the Jerez circuit in Spain.
Yamaha will be looking to improve on a dismal showing in 2024, which marked the first season since 2017 where the team did not take a race win.
The performance level was far from what had been expected of riders Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea, as the pair were only able to take five podiums from 36 races.
Team boss Paul Denning, who owns Bournemouth-based Crescent bikes, set out a clear target as the team looks to return to its former glory.
“Our target has to be back at the front of the races,” Denning said.
“Now back at the front of the races means that you get something a little bit wrong, and the bike doesn’t work as well as expected and you’re fighting for sixth or seventh, but in general, we have to be fighting for podiums at every round.
“When we got it right in 2024, Locatelli was on the podium in Jerez at the Saturday race and a really strong performance, and we’ve been there sporadically in 2024 but not consistent enough.
“There’s a lot to improve upon but technically Yamaha are all in, we’ve changed enough to try and take things forward.
“The plan is to be competitive, to win races and be fighting for the podiums at every round.”
Can Yamaha get the best from Jonathan Rea?
The 2024 season was especially disappointing for Northern Irishman Jonathan Rea, who is the most successful rider in the championship’s history.
Rea won six titles with the Kawasaki team, most recently in 2020, but was only able to earn one podium in his debut season with Yamaha.
The team have reunited Rea with his former crew chief Uri Pallares to make the 37-year-old more comfortable in his switch to the new manufacturer.
This switch is something that Denning believes could restore the “true” form of Rea.
“I’ve got full belief that he can be challenging for the podiums, and race wins and therefore potentially the championship,” Denning said of Rea.
“But to go into it perhaps as he might’ve done after two or three championships with Kawasaki and say ‘right, we’re the favourites, we’re going to win this’ is a different thing because we’re recovering from a really difficult position.
“The target is to be competitive and to see the true Jonathan Rea, whether that’s fighting for fifth place and first place, it’s to maximise the potential that we’ve got.
“If we can do that, then we’ll be in a much better position at the end of the year. “
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