Yamaha has announced that its iconic middleweight supersport, the YZF-R6, will no longer be available as a road-legal offering from 2021.

• The YZF-R6 will not be road legal in 2021

• Race-only, non-homologated version will not be available

• It will not meet Euro 5 (BS6) emission standards

In the announcement, Yamaha has said, “with deep consideration of evolving global market trends and regulations that limit production volumes on certain models, the following Yamaha models will be discontinued after model year 2020: YZF-R6, VMAX, WR250R and SMAX”.

The Yamaha R6, introduced in 1999, was never officially sold in India but has gone on to become an icon in the middleweight supersport segment internationally.

It has been the choice for many as a track machine, which is why Yamaha has said that it will still sell the YZF-R6 as a non-homologated version. It will be called the R6 RACE and its targets will include track day participants to national supersport championship contenders. 

Yamaha has also said that a dedicated R6 GYTR kit is also being introduced from January 2021. This includes a GYTR Electronic package with a lightweight wire harness and programmable ECU, AIS (Air Intake System) block off plates that will allow the R6 RACE to use the fresh air directly provided by its large air intake, a full Titanium Akrapovic race exhaust and lots more.