Yamaha Motor Europe has re-structured the Racing Management Organisation for the 2019 racing season. The brand will focus on rally and motocross but has shifted away from enduro.
Moving into a new role, Alexandre Kowalski will take on the title and responsibility of Yamaha Motor Europe Off-road Racing Manager, leading all Motocross and Rally operations. Alexandre brings 2 decades of experience as Marketing and Racing Division Manager in Yamaha Motor France, including the previous five years managing Yamaha Motor Europe’s Rally and Enduro programmes.
Current Yamaha Motor Europe MX Racing Manager Erik Eggens will remain in charge of MX racing operations, with a stronger focus on MXGP and MX2 classes. Expanding the team will be new member Thorsten Lentink, joining the Yamaha Motor Europe off-road team as MX Racing Coordinator. Thorsten will have the responsibility to focus on the EMX and Supported Team activities as well as ensuring the smooth running of the off-road bLU cRU programme.
Paolo Pavesio – Yamaha Motor Europe Division Manager, Marketing and Motorsports Division
“We have continued to grow and develop our racing programmes across all road and off-road classes to ensure we have the strongest and most competitive presence at every level of competition where our production based-machines can race. With this refined structure in place, combining already seasoned Yamaha Racing management with fresh new blood, we are confident we can continue to provide unrivalled support for both teams and riders, from the feeder classes at the bottom of our racing pyramid, to the very pinnacle of our racing efforts. We place the same value and importance on our youngest bLU cRU riders as we do our Factory superstars, so we are delighted to head into what will be an exciting and highly competitive year of racing with maximum focus at all levels.”
In December last year, Yamaha Motor Europe confirmed it will no longer participate in the FIM Enduro World Championship. Successfully representing Yamaha in international enduro competition for the last three years, the Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team now have their eyes set on an exciting new project that will no longer see them participate in the FIM Enduro World Championship.
Alexandre Kowalski, Yamaha Motor Europe Enduro & Rally Racing Manager said at the time; “We’re very proud that Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team have been our official representatives in enduro racing since 2016 and excited to soon see them move on to a completely new project. For the last three years, team riders have helped Yamaha be a key player in the Enduro World Championship and the prestigious ISDE. We are grateful to them for all their efforts. Loïc Larrieu and Jamie McCanney have finished as world championship runners-up in their respective classes no less than five times. We are happy to confirm that Jamie will remain with the Yamaha family. Together with team manager Marc Bourgeois they will both be a major part of our new project. As for Loïc, we want to warmly thank him for his hard work and dedication these last three years and wish him all the best in his future projects.”