YAMAHA Sepang Racing will be appointing MotoGP rider and SBK rider.
The 8 Hours of Sepang will be held for the first time at Sepang International Circuit (Malaysia) on December 13-15, 2019. “YAMAHA Sepang Racing” is attracting attention in this race.
YAMAHA Sepang Racing has appointed three riders who are MotoGP rider "Franco Morvidelli (Petronas YAMAHA SRT)", "Hafis Charlin (Red Bull KTM Tech3)", and "Michael van der Mark" fighting in the Superbike World Championship (SBK).
Franco Morvidelli is the 2017 Moto2 class champion, now a member of the Petronas YAMAHA SRT in the MotoGP class, and is a capable player in the annual ranking TOP10. Rider Hafis Charlin is a Malaysian rider and will be the focus of attention locally.
In addition to two riders fighting at MotoGP, the top of motorcycle race, an expectation is also drawn to Michael van der Mark, who has won the Suzuka 8 Hours 4 times.
YAMAHA Sepang Racing will use YZF-R1 as their partner machine. They will aim the top of podium with "21" of YAMAHA Ace Number and the color of the YAMAHA Factory Team.
Japanese riders will also participate to 8 Hours of Sepang for getting the right to appear in the 2020 Suzuka 8 Hours.
The 8 Hours of Sepang which will be held for the first time in December 2019, also serves as a qualifying race to compete in the 2020 Suzuka 8 Hours. For that reason, the same race format as the Suzuka 8 Hours, which will be the final round of the series, will be adopted. Top 10 trials will be conducted by the top 10 qualifying teams. The race ends after sunset.
To get the right to appear in the 2020 Suzuka 8 Hours, 12 teams from Asia will participate. Among them is the "HONDA ASIA DREAM RACING WITH SHOWA”, and is composed of riders who participated in Suzuka 8 hours in recent years, and is attracting attention as the winner candidate for this race.
“RS-ITOH (Akira Yanagawa, Kazuteru Ito, Hitoshi Izutsu)” and “Plus One (BMW) (Taro Sekiguchi, Daisaku Sakai, Kosuke Nagoshi)” will participate from Japan. These two Japanese teams are also worth noting.
Three teams, including Webike SRC KAWASAKI France, have been vowing to revenge the opening round.
In the 24 Hour Endurance of Bol d'Or performed in September 2019, "F.C.C.TSR HONDA France" was leading to the top but suffered from an engine trouble. In addition, "Webike SRC KAWASAKI France" and "YART YAMAHA" were sacrificed for the oil leakage due to that trouble. These three teams will naturally aim for the top of podium in this 8 Hours of Sepang.
A fierce battle is expected with strong teams such as "YAMAHA Sepang Racing" and "HONDA ASIA DREAM RACING WITH SHOWA", who will be participating in 8 Hours of Sepang, including "SUZUKI Endurance Racing Team" who won the Bol d'Or 24 Hour in September of the same year.
In the Superstock class, I want to pay attention to the fierce battle of “Moto Ain” who won the class in the Bol d'Or 24 hours of opening round, with the Japanese team “Tone RT (BMW)” who won the Superstock class of the Suzuka 8 Hours last season.
Original Source FIM EWC [ 8 Hours of Sepang Temporary Entry List ]
