Cycle News Staff | November 15, 2024
Long-time British Superbike Championship rider Jason O’Halloran will make his debut in the Endurance World Championship in 2025 as part of the YART Yamaha EWC Official Team.
Jason O’Halloran (center) joins YART after a 15-year British Superbike career.
Replacing the retiring Niccolo Canepa, who retired at the end of the 2024 season to become Yamaha Motor Europe’s Road Racing Sporting Manager, O’Halloran will compete alongside team riders Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz and reserve rider Robin Mulhauser.
The 36-year-old O’Halloran continues the YART team’s long association with Australian riders, which has seen Damian Cudlin, Steve Martin, Josh Brookes, Broc Parkes, Wayne Maxwell, and Rick Olson all race for them in the past.
“I had a lot of success in BSB with Yamaha, so I am excited to get back onto the R1,” O’Halloran said. “It has always been the bike I gelled with the best; it suits my riding style, and I love riding it. I had a taste of riding in the EWC in the past, and it has always been a championship I wanted to race in. With Niccolo retiring, the timing was perfect.” CN
UPDATE November 15, 2024
FIM Endurance World Championship (FIM EWC) provided an interview (and photos) with Jason O’Halloran about his move to the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC team:
Jason O’Halloran has been handed the opportunity of a lifetime in the FIM Endurance World Championship after being recruited to replace Niccolo Canepa at Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team alongside Marvin Fritz, Karel Hanika and reserve rider Robin Mulhauser. Nicknamed the ‘O Show’, this is what the 36-year-old from Australia has had to say.
How did the opportunity to ride for Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team in the FIM Endurance World Championship come together?
“It started a couple of months ago. I was in the middle part of my BSB season, Niccolò announced his retirement just before the Bol d’Or so I started speaking with Niccolò, having met him last year when he came and raced in BSB as my team-mate at McAMS. I got on really well with him then and stayed in touch. When he announced he was retiring from racing we started to speak a little bit and it sort of went from there. Andrea Dosoli from Yamaha got involved and Mandy Kainz from YART and the three of them put the deal together for us. EWC was something I’d thought about for a little while but I’ve been so invested in BSB that until an opportunity arises you don’t get your head into it. But when the opportunity came up with YART, I knew they were obviously world champions in 2023 and came really close to the championship this year. They have two great riders in Karel and Marvin and I just thought it was such a good opportunity to take.”
O’Halloran (second from right) with new YART team-mates Mulhauser, Fritz and Hanika
You’ve done some EWC racing before but you’re now switching from sprint to endurance racing in a big way, taking part in your first 24-hour races. Excited or apprehensive?
“It’s obviously going to be a completely new experience, but something I’ve been looking forward to. My whole career has been in sprint racing and to come across to endurance racing is going to be a lot different. I’ve got some experience from eight-hour races and in reality they’re not too bad because there are three riders so it’s three sprint races each. But it’s the 24-hour races where I’m going to have to learn quickly and learn how to adapt to those, how to manage not only the motorbike for a 24-hour race but also your body. This is something I’ll have to draw off the experience of my team-mates and my team to help me through, certainly the first one at Le Mans. But I enjoy training, I enjoy the fitness aspect of things and that’s something I’m really looking forward to and relishing the opportunity to do my first 24-hour races.”
Not only are you replacing a legend of the EWC in Niccolo Canepa, you are also joining a title-winning team. To what extent are you under pressure to deliver a top result?
“Niccolò is a world champion and has been with Yamaha for a long time and YART for a long time. They had such a strong line-up with Karel and Marvin as well. The expectation is to come in and fill the shoes, which will be a difficult job to do. But I’ve got a lot of experience in Superbike racing, I’ve got a lot of experience on the Yamaha and I’ve had a lot of success on Yamaha in BSB. I hope I can come in and adapt quickly. The biggest thing for me will be adapting to the EWC-spec bike, the Bridgestone tyres and the new circuits. I’ve ridden at Le Mans and I’ve ridden at Suzuka but I haven’t ridden at Spa and I haven’t ridden at Paul Ricard so I’ve got a lot of things to learn. Coming in with the team I’m coming in with, it’s the best case scenario because I have all the tools there and all the people there to learn from. And hopefully Niccolo as well because he’s going to be at the races. Now he’s in a managerial role I can draw off all his experience as well and that will hopefully allow me to progress as quickly as possible.”
How will you prepare for your first EWC season in terms of testing?
“We’re due to ride the bike for the first time in February but we have plenty of tests lined up before the start of the season, which is obviously really important for me. Getting to know the new team and getting to know the EWC Yamaha and adapting to the tires, doing some long runs and getting into the EWC mode and working with all the guys.”
What would winning an FIM world title mean to you?
“That was one of the big points for me to join the team and race in EWC. When I left Australia back in 2008 the dream for me was to be world champion. I went down the British Superbike road, spent many years in that championship and absolutely loved it and that’s why I stayed there. But still in the back of my mind from when I was a boy I wanted to be world champion. This is the opportunity in the next few years and hopefully in 2025 I can tick that box and join my team-mates and YART and put my name with world champion next to it.”
2025 FIM Endurance World Championship calendar
Round 1: April 17-20 — 24 Heures Motos, Le Mans, France
Round 2: June 6-7 — 8 Hours of Spa Motos, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Round 3: August 1-3 — 46th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race, Suzuka Circuit, Japan
Round 4: Sept 18-21 — Bol d’Or, Circuit Paul Ricard, France
