Johannesburg September 2023 ― Bridgestone Corporation (Bridgestone) announced today that the company supported the team winning 2023 FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) title, the world’s foremost series of endurance motorcycle races, with Bridgestone tyres: YART Yamaha Official EWC Team has in fact won the championship, with YOSHIMURA SERT Motul finishing second. This is the fourth time and the third consecutive year that a team using Bridgestone BATTLAX tyres has won the EWC title.
Since 2017, Bridgestone has supported teams participating in the full EWC series with the supply of Bridgestone BATTLAX tyres, which provide high grip, durability and comfort handling. In the 2023 season, YART Yamaha Official EWC Team – one of the three teams supported by Bridgestone – placed second in the opening race and first in the second race of the series, showing consistent performance throughout the entire season. With the second rank, the team went on to participate in the Bol d’Or 24-hour endurance race, the series’ final race, which took place in France (16-17 September). This team came in fourth place, winning the EWC champion title.
“I am very pleased and honoured to achieve the EWC championship, which we have been aiming for with Bridgestone tyres. I am so happy for our riders. They have been leading in every single round this year. At Le Mans, we had a problem where we crashed on some oil. Spa was the perfect race for us, even with some issues. We showed such a good pace in Suzuka, but a very minor technical issue meant we missed out on a dream podium. In the Bol d’Or, since it was a tough race for us and we had to be conservative to ensure our bike survived, but we did this to ensure we could finish the race. I was so proud of the riders in Japan, as we were close to retiring, but the boys did not give up and fought back from last position to 22nd. So, for me, our guys are the real heroes and true endurance riders. They always show such amazing fighting spirit, bravery, and determination, and they really deserve it. This championship means a lot to us all, and the whole team has worked so hard, so we will enjoy this feeling and then start thinking about next year and how we can defend our title,” said Mandy Kainz, Team Manager of YART Yamaha Official EWC Team.
“I would like to congratulate riders and all of the members of YART Yamaha Official EWC Team on their EWC title. YART Yamaha Official EWC Team won the second place in the opening race of Le Mans and the first place in Spa and continued to show high level of teamwork throughout the entire season and deserved to be the champion. Bridgestone is very proud to have contributed to their championship by supplying tyres that maximize the performance of both riders and their bikes – even under the extreme conditions of endurance races. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the many motorsports fans who supported us and to all the teams who worked so hard and cooperated in tyre development. Bridgestone looks forward to supporting the series champion as a member of their team from the ground up, and to taking on the challenge to develop and supply tyres with even higher levels of quality and performance next year as well, with our passion to support motorsport,” said Tatsuya Uchida, Director, Motorsport Division, Bridgestone Corporation.
Bridgestone is committed to supporting the development of enjoyable motorcycling and motorsport culture with safety and peace of mind through a wide range of sustainable global motorsport and products like its BATTLAX premium motorcycle tyres. Through these efforts, the company strives to achieve the corporate commitment of “Emotion: Committed to inspiring excitement and spreading joy to the world of mobility”, as laid out in the Bridgestone E8 Commitment[ii].
