Source: Suzuki Racing.

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) aims to claim-back its crown in the Endurance World Championship this season and with a new rider in the saddle of the newly-developed SERT GSX-R1000.

Longtime team mates Vincent Philippe and Anthony Delhalle will be joined this year by World Superstock Champion Etienne Masson in a streamlined three-rider line-up in an all-French team guided by team principal and manager Dominique Meliand.

“We have already started testing the new machine which has been developed in conjunction with technical staff at the factory in Japan,” Meliand said. “We have improved electronics and for 2015 new Ohlins suspension that we are also testing ready for the first race at Le Mans in April.

“All our staff are working very hard and our riders have been working on their physical conditions as we want to regain the number one plate and our 14th World Endurance Championship title.”

Masson moves-up from the Suzuki-supported Junior Team LMS squad – who clinched the 2014 Superstock Endurance Championship at Le Mans in September – and has started testing the newly-developed Yoshimura-powered GSX-R with his teammates.