Nürburgring World Superbike race winner Tom Sykes has signed to ride for the official Kawasaki Racing Team in 2012, joining existing rider Joan Lascorz.

Sykes, who has been an official Kawasaki rider for the past two seasons and a key figure in the development of the current Ninja ZX-10R racebike, has already won a world championship race for Kawasaki, at the German WSBK round in early September.

Lascorz and Sykes had their first test in preparation for the 2012 season at Portimao on Tuesday 18th October, only two days after the end of the 2011 campaign, and it was a test that turned out well for both riders.

The team’s European logistical base will be in Spain but with overall control coming direct from Japan, as the Superbike World Championship programme is a full Kawasaki Heavy Industries project.

“I’m very happy to be continuing with Kawasaki and the Ninja ZX-10R in 2012,” Sykes said. “I believe the bike has good potential and we saw some of that come through in 2011 with a race win in Germany and Superpole at Misano.

“These are the kind of results I am looking to achieve in the coming season on a regular basis and I really believe we can do this.

“I have a lot of confidence in Kawasaki and the team around me, so if we can improve a couple of points with the set-up of the bike on the track which I feel are restricting performance this would be a big step forward for us in the final results.

“I am looking forward to re-starting our test program again very soon.”