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A season that promises to be revolutionary, with a view to 2022. As anticipated a few weeks ago, the agreement signed between MSV Racing, Dorna and FIM will lay the foundations for the development of the new World SuperSport regulations and will be tested a year in advance in the British 600 domestic series. The preparatory class for BSB British Superbike, in fact, will open its doors to medium-sized motorcycles, including the Triumph 765. Waiting to understand the regulations to equalize performance between sports bikes of different displacements, today the motorcycle manufacturer based in Hinckley has confirmed its return in an official capacity together with the glorious PTR Team.
The line-up headed by Simon Buckmaster, with a glorious past on the world scene with riders of the calibre of Sam Lowes and Jules Cluzel, after a five-year period with Honda, has opted to move to the domestic BSB championship making up a strong pairing with the legendary racing brand. Triumph Motorcycles will provide direct support to PTR by taking care of the development of the two bikes in view of the new British SuperSport 600 season, directly based on the Street Triple RS model and in particular on the 765cc Triple engine, which has already shown excellent performance in the two recent editions of the Moto2 World Championship.
“Triumph has a long and very successful history in Supersport racing with the Daytona 675 and our experience of racing in Supersport ultimately led to the development of the Moto2 engine which has been so successful for the last 2 years,” declared Steve Sargent, Triumph Motorcycles Chief Product Officer. “Supersport has always been an important championship which has developed riders who have gone on to race at the highest level in WSBK and MotoGP. We are therefore extremely pleased that MSVR, Dorna and the FIM are working to take the Supersport category forward and to encourage manufacturers like Triumph to come back into the class. We have joined with PTR Racing on this journey and they will bring a wealth of experience to run our factory supported team. We look forward to a successful 2021.”
Simon Buckmaster, PTR Team Manager, said: “As things developed towards the end of this year, we were happy to be able to reach an agreement with Triumph to become the Official Triumph Team. I’m really excited about this project, it’s a fantastic opportunity and to be working in collaboration with MSVR, Dorna and the FIM to update the rules for BSS and WSS is a real opportunity to do something for the good of motorcycle sport and I can honestly say I am proud to be a part of that. We can’t wait to get started; we are working together with Triumph to get the 765 Street Triple RS ready for the start of the 2021 season, to develop it through the season and to establish the eligibility for both series and other series in the world going forward. From that point of view, I would say this is the best thing that has ever happened to PTR and to me personally. As a young lad I started racing on a Triumph Bonneville so for me it is almost like going back to my roots. We are currently talking to riders and we hope to be able to bring on some young British talent and achieve our aims of winning British Supersport in year one and challenge for the World title in World Supersport the year after.”
At first, the Triumph 765 will be up against the Kawasaki Ninja 636 and Yamaha YZF-R6, while, in the second half of 2021, the long-awaited Ducati Panigale 959 will also enter the fray.
Stuart Higgs, Bennetts British Superbike Championship Series Director, commented: “MSVR as the promoter of the Quattro Group British Supersport Championship, which is the principle support category to BSB, are one of the driving forces behind the reset and redefinition of the tremendously important Supersport category. This development, which will pilot in the UK in 2021 before, hopefully adoption at international level, will immediately open up the possibility for manufacturers to reengage. It is of significance that Triumph, with proven success in the intermediate production derived class can now return, and we are very excited about the prospect of this across the British circuits in 2021.”
