Supersport motorcycles are dead, long live the supersport motorcycle … in Europe, at least.

Despite the much-publicized and much-lamented death of 600-class high-performance sportbikes, there is still a demand for these bikes. There are still whole race series built around the four-cylinder 600 formula, and because of that, Yamaha is selling the track-only Yamaha R6 RACE and R6 GYTR models for 2022. Too bad for North American readers, though—they’re only available in Europe.

The Yamaha R6 RACE is no surprise, because we knew this was Yamaha’s plan as soon as it canceled the R6 for most global markets. While Yamaha figured the R6 was too much trouble to sell to Joe Blow consumers, it’s still a top bike in 600-class roadracing (Dominique Aegerter won the 2021 World SSP championship for Ten Kate on a factory-backed R6, the fifth year in a row that an R6 has won that). So why not keep the platform alive as long as possible in that scene? Yamaha probably bypasses all sorts of pesky, expense-adding regulations by only importing this bike as a race machine.

From Yamaha’s press release, it sounds like the R6 RACE is basically the same bike as the one we saw recently canceled in North America, except it has streetgoing parts removed:

R6竞赛将在光滑技术黑色with gold coloured forks for 2022, and will be supplied in track-ready trim with non-essential road components excluded – such as headlight, position lights, mirrors, horn, licence plate holder, tandem seat and tandem footrests. This reduces weight in order to further maximise performance, making this non-homologated machine ideal for track day riders, as well as being the perfect base model for racers who want to personalise it to their own specification.

The R6 GYTR, though—it sounds much more interesting. This machine is updated with high-spec track-friendly bits, and is only available from Yamaha Pro Shop dealers. Yamaha says “Designed for a wide selection of customers from track day riders through to racers, the R6 GYTR is also the clear choice for more demanding competitors who want to take the bike’s performance to an even higher level by fitting a range of engine, suspension or other components from the GYTR line-up.” So, whether you just want to hoon around at your local mid-group, or you want to challenge at the IOMTT, Yamaha wants to sell you this bike.

What makes it so hot? The R6 GYTR comes with a programmable Superstock ECU that allows the rider to tweak their engine performance, and a wiring harness designed for race use. There’s a titanium Akrapovic exhaust, racing sprockets with 520 chain, stainless steel brakes lines, an ABS emulator that lets you remove the ABS pump, a race seat, fully adjustable rear-set footpegs, front brake lever guard, rear sprocket protector, a carbon-reinforced fiberglass fairing (prepped for easy paint and decal/logo application), reversible shift pattern, and so on. Yamaha also offers factory upgrades even beyond the high spec configuration this machine comes in.

At this point, the only Yamaha Pro Shops we know of that carry the machine are all in the UK (Crescent Motorcycles, in Verwood, Dorset and Padgett’s Motorcycles in Batley, West Yorkshire, and Raceways Motorcycles in Fleetwood, Lancashire and Tamworth Yamaha in Tamworth, West Midlands). As this is a Yamaha Motor Europe project, we’ll presumably see this bike available across the continent as well, starting in January, 2022, when deliveries begin.

We’ve seen no pricing yet for either bike, but rest assured, these machines will not be cheap.