TAS Racing unveil Tyco Suzuki for Brookes

The TAS Racing Suzuki team unveiled their new blue and white Tyco livery at Motorcycle Live, NEC Birmingham this morning – and announced that Josh Brookes would remain with the team for a second season in BSB.

Speculation had been rife about the future of the Australian with the Irish-based team following a lengthy delay in TAS announcing their 2012 rider line-up. But the deal was finalised last week and Brookes jetted into the UK last Friday in time for a pre-show Suzuki dealer conference and for today’s team launch.

MCN spoke to Brookes at the NEC last Friday, only a few hours after he landed in the UK. He said: “I’m excited about being back with the team for a second season. I’m looking forward to racing the GSX-R1000 under the new BSB rules, which I think will suit me perfectly.

“Philip (Neill, team owner) and I have been talking since the last BSB round of 2011 but the delay was simply down to getting sponsors in place first. We had a verbal agreement sorted just over a week ago and then finalised everything a couple of days before I came over for the show.”

Neil was clearly delighted to secure Brookes – and new title sponsors Tyco for 2012. He told MCN: “Josh wanted a commitment from us before he even left to go home after the final round of this season but I wanted to ensure we had all our backers in place before signing any riders. I’d say talent wise, there’s no better rider than Josh and we’re really pleased to have him back for a second season.”

The delay in signing Brookes was to ensure everything was in place with new backers Tyco and Neill said: “The Tyco people share our passion for racing and they’re much more hands-on kind of people which is good for us.

“And it’s nice after six yeas of racing in black to get back to our original blue and white TAS Racing colours, proper GSX-R colours which just happen to fit Tyco’s colours perfectly.” 

The Tyco TAS Racing Suzuki team will field a two-man team in BSB next season but the second berth has still not been filled. British Supersport champion Alastair Seeley is favourite to get the ride and arrived at the NEC with Neill for the dealer conference on Friday but Neill and Seeley said nothing has been finalised.