Five-time Isle of Man TT winner Peter Hickman will switch from Triumph to Yamaha machinery in the Supersport class for the 2020 international road racing season.
Hickman and the Smiths Racing team used a Triumph 675cc K2 bike from 2016-’19, with Hickman grabbing his first win in the SSP class at the TT last year and guiding the bike to victory at the Ulster Grand Prix as well.
However, the K2 has been out of production for several years now, while the latest Yamaha R6 has become the benchmark in Supersport racing.
Ashcourt Racing’s Lee Johnston won on the R6 at the TT last year, and proved Hickman’s closest challenger in SSP at the Ulster GP.
On Thursday, Yamaha confirmed it had joined forces with Smiths Racing and Hickman in the SSP class for 2020.
In a brief twitter statement, Yamaha UK said: “We are looking forward to seeing what Peter Hickman and Smiths Racing can achieve with the YZF-R6 on the roads this year!”
Hickman will once again remain with BMW machinery in the Superbike and Superstock classes on the roads this year, with Smiths Racing becoming the German manufacturers official road racing team for 2020.
In the Lightweight class, Smiths will run Norton’s effort on the 650cc Superlight for Hickman.
The 2020 road racing campaign was a dominant one for Hickman, as he managed a win at the North West 200, three victories at the TT and completed a record clean sweep of seven wins at the Ulster GP.
This earned him a nomination for Rider of the Year in the 2019 Autosport Awards, though he was ultimately beaten by six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez.
Источник: www.classic.autosport.com