Randy de Puniet to World Superbike In 2015

Paul Carruthers | October 14, 2014

Randy de Puniet will race in World Superbike next year with Suzuki.

Suzuki MotoGP test rider Randy de Puniet has inked a deal that will see him aboard a Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R100 in the 2015 World Superbike Championship.

The 33-year-old Frenchman will join Brit Alex Lowes on the two-rider team. De Puniet has competed in 139 MotoGPs and five 250cc Grands Prix in his career and the 2015 season will mark his debut in the World Superbike Series. During the current season, de Puniet led the development of the Suzuki GSX-RR and he will continue in a testing role with the MotoGP team concurrent to his World Superbike duties.

De Puniet is motivated for competitive action aboard the World Superbike specification GSX-R1000, after his successful second-place result as part of the Yoshimura team in the 2014 Suzuka 8-Hour Endurance race in Japan.

De Puniet is also scheduled to race the Suzuki MotoGP bike in the final round of the 2014 season at Valencia in Spain in November. The World Superbike team will complete its season with Lowes and Eugene Laverty on November 2.

“I’m so happy to be joining Crescent Suzuki for the Superbike World Championship because my target for 2015 was to get back to competing on the racetrack,” de Puniet said. “Testing for the past year was okay, but of course what I really want is to race. I really enjoyed racing in Suzuka this year – to race, to fight and to be on the podium is everything to me. I had the opportunity to join the Crescent team for next year and I’m really happy; my first priority was to stay with Suzuki because I want to stay within this family, and for me this is a new challenge – a new championship, new bike, new tire. Everything is different and I have many things to learn, but I am ready for that and I’m very confident. I will be joining a very strong team with a lot of experience and I think the bike will be good next year. We have a good test plan for this winter and I think we will be ready for the first race in Phillip Island next year.”

Team manager Paul Denning is also excited to have de Puniet on board.

“We couldn’t be happier to have secured Randy’s agreement to compete in the 2015 World Superbike Championship on board our GSX-R1000,” Denning said. “We needed a high-quality rider to replace Eugene [Laverty]; Randy was the obvious choice, and we are very proud to have gained his trust and commitment to race with us next year.

“He has impressed Suzuki this year with his hard work and feedback as test rider on the Grand Prix GSX-RR, but Randy’s racing pedigree is also beyond doubt and his potential to succeed on the Superbike is clear. This is not a commercially driven deal; the primary motivation is simply to race. After an acclimatization period to learn the GSX-R1000 and the Pirelli tires, I see no reason why he won’t be an absolute front-runner. Randy’s close working relationship with the Suzuki factory can also only be positive for the World Superbike project, and the whole team is very excited about getting down to work, and turning 2014’s potential into solid results for both riders next season.”