2020 race winner Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSSP300) will continue to be backed by Yamaha’s bLU cRU programme in 2021 after the 18-year-old showed impressive pace during his first full season of FIM Supersport 300 World Championship action; claiming two wins and four podiums across 14 races in 2020.

Sofuoglu made his debut in WorldSSP300 in 2018 with a one-off appearance at Portimao before returning for three races in 2019. In 2020, the Turkish sensation entered his first full-season campaign and mounted a title challenge in the early stages of the season as he secured two wins in the first seven races and four podiums across the season.

He will now return for his second full-season campaign in 2021, once again back by bLU cRU and remaining with Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSSP300, as he looks to mount a title challenge and better his third place in the Championship standings from 2020. Sofuoglu will be one of two riders supported by bLU cRU with the second rider unnamed at this point.

Sofuoglu said: “It was a good year with the Yamaha bLU cRU programme for me, and all the bLU cRU staff helped develop me as a rider. The past season has made me feel like a more complete package and my confidence has been really high. I finished third in the WorldSSP300 championship, and now my focus is on training as much as possible to challenge for the title, and together with Yamaha, I hope I can achieve this.”

Alberto Barozzi (Yamaha Motor Europe bLU cRU Racing Manager) added: “It was a really competitive Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Challenge this year. The five bLU cRU boys did a great job, I’m proud to say ‘bravi’ to Bahattin, Unai, Ton, Alvaro and Alan – it has been an emotional season. Bahattin was this year’s bLU cRU Challenge champion and he impressed everyone in the paddock with third in the final standings. I’m very happy that he decided to continue on this path, he has a good chance to compete for the title in 2021 with the Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSSP300 Supported Team. He will form the first part of our very exciting WorldSSP300 bLU cRU line-up for 2021 and we are looking forward to seeing what can be achieved.”

You can watch all the action from the 2020 WorldSSP300 and build up to 2021 with the WorldSBK VideoPass!