Yamaha has revealed the bike that will be used by Toprak Razgatlioglu to defend his World Superbike title this year.
Last year, Razgatlioglu ended Kawasaki and Jonathan Rea’s six-year reign in WSBK by defeating the Northern Irish rider in a thrilling championship duel, while breaking Yamaha’s title drought in the production-based series, which dated back to 2009.
The Turkish rider will wear the coveted #1 plate this year as he attempts to repeat his win aboard his works Crescent Racing-run R1, with the team announcing its 2022 livery at a launch event on Thursday.
“My team has done incredible work over the winter and I have enjoyed testing all the developments,” said Razgatlioglu.
“The new R1 WorldSBK looks amazing and we are ready to start the new season.
“I always say, my approach is the same in this championship: to fight for race wins every time.”
“I cannot wait to ride my bike this week in Barcelona, we will continue to work on the race package and try to improve after very good tests in Aragon and Portimao.”
“It will also be good to see our competition for 2022, but our focus is inside the Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK pit box for these final days before the first race.”
Last year’s top rookie Andrea Locatelli joins Razgatlioglu in the factory Yamaha squad, where he finished fourth in the riders’ standings with four podiums in his debut season.
Yamaha’s satellite GRT team, which goes into a new season with an unchanged line-up of third-year American rider Garrett Gerloff and sophomore Kohta Nozane, the 2020 All-Japan Superbike champion, also revealed their 2022 colors on Thursday.
Gerloff will be looking to build on a difficult 2021 season that saw him finish seventh in the standings with only two podium appearances, while Nozane will look to improve on a rookie season that saw him finish seventh and finish 14th overall.
During this week’s two-day pre-season test in Barcelona, both the works Yamaha team and GRT will be in action, marking the penultimate track action before the WSBK opening at Aragon on April 8-10.
For the first time this year, all five factory teams will share a track in Barcelona, with 20 of the 24 full-time riders taking part.
