It has been 20 years since the first Yamaha YZF R1 was launched. And in order to celebrate the iconic bike's 20th anniversary, Yamaha has revealed the Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance race-spec R1 in new colours of red and white. This was the same colour scheme which the R1 debuted in, 20 years ago. This will be the 41st edition of the 8 hour long endurance race at Suzuka, which will be held from 27 July 2018 to 29 July 2018. Last year, the race-spec R1 was sporting the typical blue colour scheme which has been a trademark for all Yamaha 'R' models. Also, these race-spec bikes will have the letters 'YZF' and 'R1' on the fairing of the race bike as homage to the first ever R1 which was launched 20 years ago in 1998.
This year, the Yamaha factory racing team riders will be Alex Lowes, Michael vsn der Mark and Katsuyuki Nakasuga. Along with the Yamaha Factory Racing Team, the YART Yamaha Racing Team and the GMT94 Racing team will also race on red and white R1s for the Suzuka 8 hour endurance race. The riders for the YART Yamaha team will be Broc Parkes, Max Neukirchner, Marvin Fritz and Takuya Fujita. Similarly, the riders for the GMT94 Yamaha race team consist of riders David Checa, Mike Di Meglio and Niccolo Canepa. The riders from the Yamaha factory racing team will be chasing their fourth consecutive victory at Suzuka.
The bike sure looks refreshing in new colours and there is every possibility that Yamaha might offer these colours on the standard road-going R1 and the track-only R1 M too.
