SBK – Ten Kate announces their return to the championship!

Bruno Gomes

March 12, 2019

We already told you before that Ten Kate Racing would be returning full time to this championship, but it was only today that the team, based in Nieuwleusen, confirmed their return to the world stage.

Through a press release published on their own website, Ten Kate Racing says that they will be returning to a championship they call “home”, and where they are considered to be one of the best teams, as they’ve managed to secure no less than 10 world titles both in Superbike and Supersport categories.

Ten Kate Racing hasn’t yet announced the motorcycle manufacturer that allows them to come back to the World Superbike championship, but rumours point to Yamaha or BMW Motorrad.

The Japanese manufacturer already has four bikes on track at the moment, two on the official PATA Yamaha World SBK team and getting full factory support, and other two raced by the semi-official GRT Yamaha team, with Marco Melandri and Sandro Cortese showing good results in round one. So it won’t be easy for Yamaha to support another team.

As for BMW Motorrad, the German brand has made no secret they want to add more S1000RR’s to the World Superbike paddock, and a partnership with Ten Kate Racing could be the perfect solution for both. Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad director, says he would be happy to make this happen, but BMW Motorrad won’t be able to deliver the full World Superbike-spec S1000RR to Ten Kate Racing in the next few rounds, all because their factory riders Tom Sykes and Marcus Reiterberger are now racing the S1000RR with an engine according to Superstock specs.

BMW Motorrad will be focusing their efforts in the next few months to bring the official team S1000RR’s up to speed, but maybe Ten Kate Racing has found a way to work with them to help develop the bike.

But who will be the rider chosen by Ten Kate Racing?

According to the Dutch team, they’ve already found a “top class rider” to race for the team, but Ten Kate Racing will leave us speculating for now. Rumours point to being Loris Baz, as the Frenchman is currently out of job. Baz has experience in MotoGP and World Superbike, so it would be a perfect match for the team.

We will need to wait until April 2 to know the bike and rider for this return to action of the Ten Kate Racing team.