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MotoGP’s Bradley Smith To Ride Endurance-Spec Yamaha YZF-R1 For YART

Yamaha Austria Racing Team going for gold at the final round of the 2016 FIM Endurance World Championship.

YART Endurance-spec YZF-R1©Motorcyclist

Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Bradley Smith will step aboard the powerful Endurance spec-YZF-R1 for the second time in his career on 25-27 August during the 19th German Speedweek's signature 8 Hours of Oschersleben. He will join YART Yamaha Official EWC Team's rider line-up for one race with the goal of helping them charge to gold at the final round of the 2016 FIM Endurance World Championship, which sees nine teams in contention to claim the title.

After YART Yamaha Official EWC Team's superb performance at the Suzuka 8 Hours almost a fortnight ago, securing a well-deserved fourth place, the Austrian team is currently tied for second in the championship, just eight points behind the leading team and with 35 points still to race for. With glory within his grasp, Team Manager Mandy Kainz is determined to claim the second World Championship Title for the team, its first since 2009, as the series is decided at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in a little more than two weeks' time.

Bradley Smith on the YART R1 at the 2015 Suzuka 8-Hour race.©Motorcyclist

The number #7 team finished last year's race on the German podium with a solid third place but Kainz believes recruiting Smith will further strengthen the team's current line-up, consisting of Broc Parkes and Marvin Fritz, providing an extra boost in their final push towards the title victory.

Smith has been in contact with Kainz for a few years and expressed interest in riding YART's YZF-R1 in an endurance race for a while. Last year saw Smith make the perfect debut in endurance racing, riding for the Yamaha Factory Racing Team. Given the honor of completing the final stint of the Suzuka 8 Hour challenge, he returned the compliment by gifting Yamaha its first victory at Suzuka in 19 years and its fifth in the race's history. This year he hopes to duplicate his strong performance in an effort to help the team sign off the 2016 endurance season in the best way possible.

Smith is very thankful to Monster Yamaha Tech3 for allowing him to take part in another endurance event this year during a busy period of the MotoGP Championship. With the 8 Hour of Oschersleben added to his schedule, the 25-year-old will participate in five race events back-to-back, starting with MotoGP's Austrian GP on August 14th and ending with the Grand Prix in Misano on September 11th.