Exclusive: The second rider for Ten Kate’s new QJ works team has been confirmed

The Yamaha empire is crumbling: following the loss of Evan Bros, the Japanese manufacturer has now lost its second top team, Ten Kate, within twelve months – to its Chinese rivals, of all people. Whilst the Italians have joined forces with the young but rapidly growing brand ZX Moto, the Dutch have signed a multi-year contract with the giant QJ Motor. The company was founded in 1985; at its state-of-the-art factory in Wenling, 500 km south of Shanghai, 1.2 million motorbikes and 2 million engines are produced annually. QJ is part of the Geely Group, which employs around 120,000 people and whose portfolio also includes the car brands Volvo, Polestar, Lynk & Co, Lotus, Smart and Zeekr.

Ten Kate will continue in 2027 with the Turkish rider Can Öncü, who finished third in the 2022 Supersport World Championship on a Kawasaki and was runner-up on a Yamaha last year. Ahead of the final race in Jerez on 18 October, he lies third in the world championship standings. As announced by SPEEDWEEK.com, his team-mate will be the Dutch rider Zonta van den Goorbergh. He is the son of Jurgen, who contested a total of 166 Grands Prix between 1991 and 2005 in the 250cc and 500cc classes as well as MotoGP.

If he remains injury-free, Zonta will contest his 100th Grand Prix before the end of this season. The 20-year-old has been competing in the Moto2 World Championship since 2022, but has only managed three top-ten finishes so far. His best result came in 2024 at Motegi in Japan, where he finished fifth. Few doubt the Dutchman’s talent; some experts are convinced he simply needs the right environment.

At Ten Kate, he will find excellent conditions; the tuning experts from Nieuwleusen, north-east of Zwolle, have the expertise to turn even the QJ into a winning machine. To date, twelve riders’ titles have been won in the Supersport World Championship – nine with Honda and three with Yamaha.

QJ Motor: An update to the SRK 800 RS is already planned for 2027

QJ is planning a fundamentally new Supersport motorbike for 2028, which will incorporate a great deal of Ten Kate’s know-how. There has also been talk of a Superbike for some time now. No one should expect to see the same slow SRK 800 RS next year as in 2026, which managed a meagre five World Championship points. Ten Kate knows exactly what matters when it comes to a racing machine. And QJ has the necessary resources to make it happen. If you divide 1.2 million motorbikes by the number of working days in a year, you’ll quickly realise that the 500 units required for homologation can be produced between breakfast break and lunch.

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