Source: Supplied.

Australian charger Josh Brookes will return to the British Superbike Championship for 2017 after signing a single-year deal with TAG Racing’s Anvil Hire Yamaha organisation.

The move will see the 33-year-old reunited with the YZF-R1 and back in the UK fulltime following a difficult year in WorldSBK with Milwaukee BMW.

“I’m delighted to have signed a deal for 2017,” Brookes commented. “After coming from a not so positive year in World Superbikes and then taking a long time to get the deal across line, I’m pleased it’s all finally come into place. It’s taken a bit of a work, but it’s fantastic that it’s come to a positive finish.

“In one way I’m happy to be back on a Yamaha, it wasn’t the only factor I was focussed on, but it certainly was a good element to the project that I’m back on a bike that I’ve won on before. It certainly has its advantages and it’s a positive step for me. Knowing what I know about the bike, it does give me confidence, especially my history with it.

“After winning the championship in 2015 and now returning on a Yamaha the goal is the Showdown and trying to win the championship, but there is a certain growth period that we will have to go through together. We can’t put too much pressure on anyone before the first race, but once I grow with the team, that will be expected.”

Anvil Hire Yamaha team owner Rob Winfield said it was a major signing for the team to secure the 2015 series champion: “This is certainly the biggest deal we have put together as a team and I’m extremely proud of how far we have come and signing Josh certainly shows our intention for this year.

“We want to show the potential we know the Yamaha has and bringing in the 2015 champion, who won the title with this very bike, is a very exciting prospect. Josh is extremely talented and one tough year in World Superbikes hasn’t turned him into a bad rider overnight.

We have a high hopes for him this year, with the extensive testing program that has been put in place, we certainly are going to hit the ground running. We have set only a few goals for Josh, he knows what they are, but it’s important he enjoys his racing again and being back on a bike he loves will only mean good things. This year the competition has risen another notch, but so have our ambitions, so we aren’t here to make up the numbers.”

The season will start in earnest for the Anvil Hire Yamaha squad with a test at Cartagena and a further three-day test at Jerez at the start of March, before heading back to Britain for the official BSB test at Donington Park prior to the first round on 31 March.