Detail

Riders from Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan Selected for Sixth Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

September 6, 2018

September 6, 2018—Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. is proud to announce that the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, a training programme in cooperation with Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Riders Academy to discover and develop young riding talent, will be held between September 12 and 16 of this year.

The sixth edition of the Camp will feature riders from Asia, with two from Malaysia and one each from Indonesia and Japan. These riders are active in the Asia Road Racing Championship and various local racing series.
Just as in previous editions, the riders will go through a week of training and learning in Italy 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.

Yamaha began work in 2015 to establish the infrastructure for young prospects to step up through the ranks of motorcycle racing in order to discover and nurture talented riders who can flourish on the world stage, and the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp programme was created in 2016 as part of these efforts. The participants so far have been 28 mostly teenage riders who race in various championships on bikes like the YZF-R25 and YZF-R3 and hail from 13 countries in all: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Thailand, Ukraine and the United States.

Outstanding among them has been Thai rider Apiwat Wongthananon. He was selected to join the VR46 Master Camp Team in the CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship for the 2017 season and he is racing with the team again in 2018. Indonesian rider Galang Hendra Pratama is now contesting a full season in the World Supersport 300 class. In addition, Italian rider Alfonso Coppola has made the step up to the World Supersport Championship. With examples like these, it is clear Yamaha’s system of advancing young, promising riders is seeing results.