The first race was the French GP in April 1973 and Saarinen was brilliant on the machine which featured twin rear shocks, twin discs up front and a single disc at the rear. He just ran away from the pack beating Phil Read on the MV Agusta quite comfortably. To make it a notable debut for the maker and its machine, Kanaya came home third.

Yamaha 0W20 1973, Paul Ricard