Source: Suzuki Racing.

Team Kagayama has announced its 2015 plans that will see former World Superbike and grand prix regular Nori Haga contest the FIM Asia Road Race Championship (ARRC) aboard Suzuki’s GSX-R600 Supersport machine.

Haga, who scored 43 WSBK race victories, has raced with Team Kagayamha in the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours for the last two years, but now joins team owner Yukio Kagayama in his newly-formed team in the ARRC.

“This will be a new challenge for me,” Haga said. “I have raced for Team Kagayama in the Suzuka 8 Hours for the past two years and now they have offered me a full season ride in the Asia Road Racing Championship – an offer I accepted with my upmost pleasure.

“It will be a new challenge for the team and myself, but my longtime experience in the world championship should benefit the both of us. I’ve never raced a 600cc bike before in my life, so everything is fresh for me and I am looking forward to it. I hope I can live up to Yukio’s expectations and hope to win races with the team.”

Team Kagayama Suzuki Asia will run fulltime in the ARRC with Haga and a second rider, who will be announced shortly.

The team has also revealed that the rider selection of the Suzuki Asia Challenge is in progress, with announcement of the riders at the official test scheduled at Sepang in Malaysia on 1-2 April.

The Suzuki Asia Challenge is a new category in the ARRC, with a single platform of Suzuki FU150s. It is a rider development program for young Asian riders to eventually progress into MotoGP under the management and guidance of Kagayama.

The team has also announced its continuance in the JSB1000 class in the Japan Road Race Championship and where Kagayama will race the Suzuki GSX-R1000 for a fifth-consecutive season.

Another new addition to Kagayama’s 2015 effort is entry into the J-GP2 class of the Japan Road Racing Championship, where the team-built Suzuki GSX-proto71 will be used by new 18-year-old signing Hijiri Yamamoto.