Tom Sykes "highly motivated" for World Superbike comeback in 2023 with Puccetti Kawasaki Racing

The Yorkshireman, who clinched the title in 2013, rode for Paul Bird’s Ducati team this season in the British Superbike Championship, with a double at Donington Park the standout results for Sykes after a largely disappointing season.

Sykes makes the switch back to Kawasaki power in World Superbikes after riding for the BMW Motorrad team from 2019 to 2021.

“I’m really happy to be joining Kawasaki Puccetti Racing and returning to the WorldSBK paddock,” he said.

“For years, I’ve been impressed by the way in which Manuel Puccetti manages his team and by the mentality with which he goes racing, as well as the team’s infrastructure of course – all aspects that mean I’m highly motivated ahead of the 2023 racing season.

“I also have another opportunity in that I’ll be part of the Kawasaki family once more, building on a relationship that has always been very solid.

“I can’t wait to get started on this project and get to know the whole team.”

Sykes was team-mates with Jonathan Rea in Kawasaki’s official WSBK squad for four seasons from 2015 until 2018, when the English rider was consistently outdone by the Ulster rider, who won the crown a record six times in a row.

He rode for Kawasaki for nine years, winning a maiden title in 2013 and finishing as the championship runner-up three times in 2012, 2014 and 2016. The 37-year-old agonisingly missed out on the title in 2012 by half-a-point to Aprilia’s Max Biaggi and was denied successive world crowns in 2014 when he was edged out by Sylvain Guintoli, who lifted the crown by only six points at the final round.

Sykes, who won 34 races for Kawasaki before leaving the manufacturer for BMW after the 2018 season, replaces Lucas Mahias in the independent Puccetti Racing team.

He is set to ride the bike for the first time during a test in December at Jerez in Spain before starting the 2023 season with a testing programme in January.