The YZF-R1 was revolutionary when the bike was launched by Yamaha in 1998, due to its unprecedented power-to-weight ratio, but at the end of this year the curtain will fall on the one-litre Supersport icon. That is, here in Europe; Yamaha has decided not to adapt the YZF-R1 to the Euro5+ emission standards.
The good news is that Yamaha has indicated it will continue to fully support all global road racing motorsport racing series with production motorcycles featuring the YZF-R1, including the EWC Endurance World Championship and the WorldSBK FIM Superbike World Championship. This commitment extends from the factory teams in global racing series to supporting teams and customers at the national level.
This means that the R1 will remain in production in the future, as will the development program that enabled it to win world titles in both the WorldSBK and EWC.
The bad news, however, is that Yamaha has also decided, given the challenge of meeting the strict requirements of the Euro5+ homologation, to only include the R1 in the range in Europe as a ‘track-only’ motorcycle from 2025. just as has happened in the past with the YZF-R6. This puts an end to YZF-R1 history on the street after 26 years.
The fact that Yamaha still believes in the R1 can also be seen in the enormous amount of GYTR Performance Parts that have been developed and are still being developed for the R1, to offer every consumer an experience that comes quite close to the WorldSBK spec R1 such as ‘ which will be used this year by 6-time world champion Jonathan Rea. Last year this resulted in the launch of the R1 GYTR PRO 25th Anniversary Limited Edition.
Over the past three years, Yamaha has also invested in an extensive network of GYTR PRO Shops across Europe, designed to share the knowledge and experience gained with the R1 in racing at the highest level with customers. Yamaha says the R1 is a proven winning package and says it is committed to ensuring it remains that way for the foreseeable future.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.