TAS Racing has announced Josh Brookes as the first of two signings for the 2012 British Superbike campaign – racing under the all-new Tyco Suzuki banner.

The Australian had a solid debut year with the team in 2011 taking two wins from six podiums on his way to fifth place in the championship standings.

Having now familiarised himself with both the TAS Racing team and its GSX-R1000 Suzuki, everyone at Tyco Suzuki believes Brookes will be a strong championship contender in 2012.

“I thought I was heading home for the Australian summer for four months but I’m delighted to be back in the UK for a few days to re-sign for TAS Racing and I love the new look of the bike in Tyco Suzuki colours.,” Brookes said.

“It took us a while to get things to click this season, but when it did we proved how good a package we are together, so I’m looking forward to taking that to the next level in 2012.

“I really enjoy working with the boys at TAS and I love the Northern Ireland lifestyle – so at least there will be no surprises when I return to start the season.

“The goal as always is to win the championship and I really believe we can hit the ground running and do the business from round one in April. I’m looking forward to it.”

Team manager Philip Neill looks forward to expanding the team for next season.

“Our aim this year with a two rider team in BSB is to target the championship and we believe re-signing Josh as our headline rider is a good start in making that a realistic target. He showed us glimpses of brilliance this year with his race wins and some superb lap times.

“It’s fair to say it probably took us a bit longer than we anticipated to get to know each other, and for Josh to gel with the TAS Racing GSX-R1000 Superbike – so a second year together was always going to be beneficial.

“It’s good to get the deal finalised and great to have Josh back onboard. Now we need to concentrate on getting him a team-mate to complete the line-up.”