Formed in 1999 to compete primarily in the Italian national championship, the Yamaha Team Italia squad has come a long way and is now Yamaha Motor Italia's official satellite squad.

Run by experienced engineer Vanni Lorenzini, the team is extremely active on the World, European and Italian stages and is well-known for promoting young Italian riders.

The team has won two Italian Supersport championships - in 2001 and 2003 - and dominated the 2004 European Superstock championship (with Lorenzo Alfonsi pipping team-mate Gianluca Vizziello to the title), as well as numerous race wins at national and European level.

In 2006 the squad was renamed Yamaha Team Italia in deference to the team’s link with both the national Yamaha distributor and the Italian motorcycle federation; that same year the team had its first world championship level race when Massimo Roccoli gave the team just reward for all its hard work at the Misano World Supersport round. The team also competed in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup with former European Superstock 600 champion Claudio Corti winning more races than any other rider to end the year second overall.

2007 saw Lorenzini continue to run Roccoli on an R6 in the World Supersport Championship, where he finished the season in sixth. In addition to the their WSS commitments, the team ran a two-man Superstock 100 squad with Corti being joined by newcomer Michele Pirro. Corti had an exceptional Superstock season in 2007, finishing second overall after two wins and six other podiums. Pirro’s first season in Superstock 1000 was remarkable – despite it being only his first season on a litre-capacity four-stroke Michele still managed to take pole three times and a win. Between the two riders, as well as the brace of other R1 riders on the grid, enough points were amassed last year to give Yamaha its second Superstock 1000 title.

For 2008 the Yamaha Team Italia World Supersport team will continue to run Massimo Roccoli while the Superstock 1000 team will consist of Michele Pirro and Michele Magnoni.