Detail

Young Rider Talent Globally Selected for Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

May 4, 2017

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. is proud to announce the six riders chosen for the first of two Yamaha VR46 Master Camp events to be held in 2017. The riders will take part in the third edition of the Master Camp rider training and development programme, run in cooperation with Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Riders Academy.

The eligible area for nominees for the highly-coveted spots on this year’s roster was expanded from Asia to include other parts of the world. The six talents that will travel to the VR46 Riders Academy in Italy for the third edition of the Master Camp hail from Asia, North America and Oceania. In addition to this year's first Master Camp, set to take place from May 10th – 14th, there will be a second 2017 Master Camp in July, which will gather racing talent from around Europe and South America.

Like last year, the selected youngsters will go through a week of training and learning at Rossi’s Motor Ranch and the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, under the guidance of the VR46 Riders Academy’s staff and riders, a number of whom are contesting the Moto2 and Moto3 World Championships.

In order to discover and nurture talented riders who can flourish on the world stage of motorcycle racing, Yamaha began work in 2015 to establish the infrastructure for young prospects to step up through the ranks of racing. The Yamaha VR46 Master Camp project was created in 2016 as part of these efforts, with the purpose to train and develop Yamaha talent. Since then the programme has helped these riders progress by boosting their motivation and providing instruction to let them acquire new skills and experiences.

In the two previous editions of the Master Camp, held in July and September of 2016, six Yamaha riders from the Asia Road Racing Championship’s Asia Production 250 (AP250) class were chosen to attend. The programme quickly produced fantastic results as Yamaha Thailand Racing Team’s Apiwat Wongthananon secured Yamaha’s first-ever AP250 Championship Title and was selected to ride a full season for the new VR46 Master Camp Team in the ultra-competitive CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship.