World Superbike: Tom Sykes departs Puccetti Kawasaki team

The 2013 world champion has endured a miserable start to his return to the series after a season away in British Superbike, scoring just a single point in last month's Assen round with a 15th-place finish.

A brief statement issued by Kawasaki billed the split as Sykes "concluding his term" with the one-bike Puccetti team, but the British rider had previously been announced as Lucas Mahias' permanent replacement for 2023.

“My team staff and sponsors were honoured to have Tom join us to start the season," commented team owner Manuel Puccetti.

"As a former world champion and multiple race winner, his insight has really taken our understanding of the Ninja [Kawasaki ZX-10RR] to the next level.

"Now he leaves us, and we thank him for all his knowledge and for sharing so much information.”

There has been no official word on who will take over Sykes' place at Puccetti for the next WSBK round at Misano in June. 

 

“I had no hesitation in joining the Kawasaki Puccetti team and helping them with the refinement of their Ninja ZX-10RR package," commented Sykes.

"I hope all the data I helped them accumulate over testing and the first races of the season pushes them closer to winning races in the future."

Sykes enjoyed a long association with the works Kawasaki team from 2010-18, winning 34 races and delivering the marque its first world title in two decades in 2013, before joining forces with BMW in 2019.

However, the Yorkshire rider was dropped for 2022 to make way for Scott Redding, leading Sykes to switch to BSB with the Paul Bird Ducati squad.

That partnership failed to bear fruit as Sykes finished a lowly 12th in the standings with a pair of wins at Donington Park, prompting him to pursue options to return to WSBK for 2023.

The 37-year-old now faces an uncertain future following the end of his short-lived tenure at Puccetti.