New R1 wins World Endurance opener

From Yamaha Racing

The Yamaha Austria Racing Team took its first victory of the endurance season on the new 2009 YZF-R1 at Le Mans Sunday. In what was one of the most intense Le Mans Endurance races for some time, YART riders Steve Martin, Igor Jerman and Gwen Giabbani battled flawlessly through difficult racing conditions including heavy rain for nearly 20 hours and a very damp track to take the chequered flag.

The YART team took victory with a clear seven-lap advantage over the second placed Honda France team. Most rivals suffered crashes and incidents due to the adverse weather, making YART’s victory even more impressive.

The team rode the new for 2009, MotoGP derived Yamaha YZF-R1, building on the racing success already being seen in the hands of Ben Spies in World Superbike. The new machine proved the perfect tool to handle the difficult conditions with its unique crossplane crankshaft design giving the riders essentially smoother torque and more useable power to get through and out of the slippery corners of the Le Mans circuit.

“Everyone who’s dedicated to endurance racing wants to win this race once in his life," said Mandy Kainz, Yamaha Austria Racing Team manager. "I can hardly believe that we actually managed to do it. Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani worked together as a proper team and had hardly any problems. Heavy rain, especially at night caused a lot of dramatic scenes. In the crucial phase of the race my boys managed to capitalize on their experience. I have to give them a lot of respect, they weren’t only the fastest out there but managed to ride faultlessly.”