Kohta Nozane will retain his place on the WorldSBK Championship grid after securing a contract extension with Yamaha through to the 2022 WorldSBk season.
The 2020 JSB1000 All-Japan Superbike Champion progressed to the international stage this season with full support from Yamaha, which placed him in the GRT Yamaha WorldSBK team alongside Garrett Gerloff.
A tough initiation for the 25-year old as he contends with unfamiliar Pirelli tyres and a series of new circuits, Nozane has nonetheless shown marked progress during most recent rounds even if his best finish came at the top of the year with a ninth place finish in Aragon.
With Yamaha keen to continue fostering its protege’s skills against WorldSBK’s elite racers, Yamaha Motor Europe Manager Andrea Dosoli says Nozane’s progression over the course of the season convinces him he will be a reckoned in 2022.
“Kohta has shown some really great progress throughout his first season in the WorldSBK championship. It is not easy to adapt to the new circuits, ones that most of the grid are familiar with, new tyres and a different bike to what he was used to.
“Despite this, we’ve been impressed with the way in which he has improved, and he showed some promising performances in recent races.
“Next year, we are confident Kohta will be able to achieve the next level, fighting regularly in the top 10 like he has shown he can do in some races this year. So we’re very happy to have him on board with us for another season.”
Though there is no direct mention of GRT in Yamaha’s announcements for either Nozane or Gerloff, whose renewed deal was confirmed in June, it is anticipated they will continue as team-mates in Yamaha’s official satellite set up.
It will mean an unchanged rider line-up between Yamaha’s two factory-backed teams, with the works Pata Yamaha team retaining Toprak Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli.
Elsewhere, paddock rumours suggest Team Go Eleven is close to securing a deal that will see it switch from Ducati to Yamaha machinery.
