YART Yamaha EWC Team are set to make their return on the track at the Bol d’Or on September 21 and 22. The team took a short break after finishing at sixth place at the Suzuka 8 Hours in July. The team will be having a revised rider line0up for the opening race of the 2019/202 FIM Endurance World Championship at Le Castellet. The new line-up consists of Loris Baz replacing Broc Parkes, who will be racing in the penultimate round of the Asia Road Racing Championship during that same weekend.
Loris Baz will be joined by Marvin Fritz and Niccolò Canepa. Baz scored a victory for the Bol d’Or bac in 2013 in Magny-Course. Not to mention, he also joined Steve Martin and Igor Jerman in TART Yamaha Team in the 2011 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team finished in third place.
Photo credits: WorldSBK
“I’m really happy to be making a return to endurance racing with YART Yamaha at the Bol d’Or. It wasn’t on the plan, but I’ve always loved EWC. I have some really great memories from racing there. Also, I have a good relationship with Mandy and the Yamaha guys. So, when they called and my Ten Kate Yamaha team agreed that I could do it then, of course, I said yes,” says Baz as quoted from Yamaha Racing.
“It will make September a tough month, but I’ve been training hard over the summer. It won’t be a problem. I’m happy to be back with Mandy. I always call him Daddy, because he was one of the few people to give young riders the opportunity to race in EWC, including 18-year-old me back in 2011. We finished on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans back then. It will be good to return to YART Yamaha for the Bol d’Or. The aim has to be to secure the win for Yamaha with Niccolò and Marvin.”
Photo credits: Yamaha Racing
“We’ve known Loris since he was a kid. He did his first-ever endurance race with us back in 2011 aged just 18. He was so young for an endurance racer that we always called him the baby and, to be honest, we still do. Loris did a fantastic job for us that season, before moving to WorldSBK the following year. Since then he’s always maintained his interest in endurance racing and he has kept in touch with the team. So, he was the first rider we spoke to when we needed a replacement for Broc.”
“I would like to say a big thank you to the Ten Kate Yamaha Supported WorldSBK team for allowing him to race for us, in what is already a busy month. The Bol d’Or remains the only European EWC race that we haven’t won. We’ve come close on a number of occasions. This includes last year when we were second by just 54 seconds, but the top step of the podium has so far eluded us. With Loris, Marvin Fritz and Niccolò Canepa we have an incredibly strong rider line-up. We head into this year’s race determined to complete the full set with victory at the Bol d’Or.”