Adam McLean set for IRRC debut in 2024 after agreeing Supersport deal with top Dutch team

Adam McLean will make his debut in Europe’s International Road Racing Championship in 2024 after agreeing a deal with Dutch team Performance Racing Achterhoek.

McLean will compete in the Supersport class on a Yamaha R6 and will have his first outing in the championship at the second round at Schleiz in Germany from June 14-16.

The 27-year-old will miss the opening IRRC round at Hengelo in the Netherlands in May, which clashes with the North West 200.

McLean, though, intends to contest the remaining five rounds, combining his plans to ride for Ulster team J McC Roofing Racing at the NW200, Armoy and Scarborough meetings with his commitments in Europe.

“I’ve done a deal for something a bit different next year alongside the road races I normally do and I’ll be riding in the International Road Racing Championship for the first time,” McLean said.

“It’s interesting how it came about because I was selling some R6 parts on Facebook and the guy who bought some bits off me lived in the Netherlands. We got chatting and I recognised him as having done a few of the IRRC rounds.

“I mentioned that I’d always fancied the chance to do a couple of rounds and a few weeks later, he came back to me and put me in touch with a team called Performance Racing Achterhoek (PRA).

“The team has been running for a while and I’ve been fortunate enough to get in with a good team that runs at the front in the championship, so I’m really looking forward to the opportunity,” he added.

“Their rider (Jorn Hamberg) last year finished second in the Supersport championship and even though he had two DNFs, he was only seven points away from claiming the title.

“I noticed that he won the two races at Frohburg, which tells me that the bike is definitely fast because there’s a couple of really big straights at Frohburg.”

The Ulster Grand Prix winner says the opportunity has come at the right time, with only a handful of Irish road races set to go ahead next year as the ongoing insurance crisis continues to have a detrimental impact on the future of the sport.

“I’ve never had the chance before, but it feels like a good time because there aren’t as many road races at home as there used to be and it’s an opportunity to do something different, see new faces and race on new tracks,” said McLean, who claimed his maiden NW200 podiums in the Supertwin races this year.

“It’ll be interesting to see how things go and to be honest I’m looking forward to a bit of a change.

“I’m not doing the TT and with only a couple of other races at home along with the North West, it’s a chance to branch out a bit.”

McLean, who will ride Superbike, Supersport and Supertwin machinery in the J McC Racing colours at the Ulster road races in 2024, also plans to return to the Manx Grand Prix after making his Mountain Course return at the event in August following a five-year absence.