Ten Kate reveals one-off Yamaha R6 with crossplane crank technology
World Supersport team reveals one-off Yamaha R6 with crossplane crankshaft technology.
Yamaha’s iconic crossplane engine technology, which was first introduced in the 2009 YZF-R1, has now found its way into a one-off R6 produced by racing specialists, Ten Kate.
Yamaha and Ten Kate have worked closely since 2019, although this R6 prototype features a completely reworked engine that’s been built entirely in-house by the Dutch company.
Ten Kate, which now races in World Supersport with the world-championship-winning R9, is no stranger to success in the intermediate class, as well as in the premier WorldSBK category.
The 2007 Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team was the same outfit that James Toseland won the WorldSBK title with that year.
However, a lot of the team’s recent success has been with Yamaha, as it was part of title-winning campaigns with Dominique Aegerter (2021 and 2022), and Stefano Manzi in 2025).
The result of all this is a racing team that knows its way around a Yamaha, and in particular the R6, which was used by several teams for many years in World Supersport.
Away from racing, Yamaha halted production of the R6 in 2021 when stricter Euro5 emission regulations were applied. The model did continue on as the track-only R6 Race for some time, before Yamaha shifted focus to the above-mentioned R9.
But that hasn’t stopped Ten Kate from re-imagining the R6 with crossplane crankshaft technology based on the R1. According to the Dutch tuning house, the R6 Crossplane project began “with an in-depth study of the Yamaha R1 crossplane crankshaft and its balance shaft. The assembly was fully 3D-scanned and converted into a highly accurate CAD (Computer-Aided Design) model.”
It goes on to say that “simulating this configuration provided a reference framework to evaluate whether the R1 architecture could serve as a guideline for the R6 Crossplane design.”
At the moment, Ten Kate admits there are no plans to make the one-off model into a limited production run. The special edition R6, priced at €49,900 (around £43,550) plus VAT, claims to produce performance figures that are comparable with a standard R6. Maximum power is rated at approximately 126bhp, while torque is claimed to be 48 Ib-ft at 14,200rpm.
You can find out more about the bike by heading over to the official Ten Kate Racing website.
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After graduating with a sports journalism degree, Robert joined Crash.net to lead the WorldSBK coverage in 2021, while also providing MotoGP coverage. Fulfilling that role for over three years, Robert was able to put his knowledge about all things racing to the test.
