Sportbike talent from France: Wildcard for Evann Plaindoux (18)

The French Motorcycling Federation, Yamaha France and the GMT94 racing team have extended their exemplary development programme – which enables champions in certain disciplines to make a guest appearance in the production-based World Championship – to the new sportbike category; until now, this had only applied to the Supersport class.

This is a perfect fit for Yamaha: whilst France does not have a sportbike series featuring the same variety of makes as the World Championship, it does have the Challenge SSP 700 one-make cup, which is contested on the R7.

The 18-year-old Evann Plaindoux has been in impressive form this year. The teenager won the series with three victories and top-five finishes in every race. GMT94 will prepare a World Championship-spec Yamaha R7 for Plaindoux.

“I’ve been given an extraordinary opportunity: I’ll be competing as a wildcard rider in the Superbike World Championship at Magny-Cours on a Yamaha R7,” said the Frenchman jubilantly. “I’ve earned this chance thanks to my first-place finish in the Yamaha R7 Challenge in the FSBK. It’s the culmination of hard work and an opportunity to represent France on the international stage. To do this event justice, I’m devoting myself entirely to my physical preparation.”

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