Josh Brookes is the first of two signings for TAS Racing for the 2012 British Superbike campaign - racing under the all-new Tyco Suzuki banner.
The Australian had a solid debut year with the team in 2011 taking two wins from six podiums on his way to fifth place in the championship standings. Having now familiarised himself with both the TAS Racing team and its GSX-R1000 Suzuki, everyone at Tyco Suzuki believes Brookes will be a strong championship contender in 2012.
"I thought I was heading home for the Australian summer for four months but I'm delighted to be back in the UK for a few days to re-sign for TAS Racing and I love the new look of the bike in Tyco Suzuki colours," Brookes said.
"It took us a while to get things to click this season, but when it did we proved how good a package we are together, so I'm looking forward to taking that to the next level in 2012. I really enjoy working with the boys at TAS and I love the Northern Ireland lifestyle - so at least there will be no surprises when I return to start the season. The goal as always is to win the championship and I really believe we can hit the ground running and do the business from round one in April. I'm looking forward to it."
Team Manager, Philip Neill, added, "Our aim this year with a two rider team in BSB is to target the championship and we believe re-signing Josh as our headline rider is a good start in making that a realistic target. He showed us glimpses of brilliance this year with his race wins and some superb lap times.
"It's fair to say it probably took us a bit longer than we anticipated to get to know each other, and for Josh to gel with the TAS Racing GSX-R1000 Superbike - so a second year together was always going to be beneficial. It's good to get the deal finalised and great to have Josh back onboard. Now we need to concentrate on getting him a team-mate to complete the line-up."
TAS Racing has joined forces with Tyco Security Products as the team's title partner for its 2012 British Superbike and International Road Racing campaigns running under the team name of Tyco Suzuki.
And the title partnership with Tyco Security Products has brought in a number of new associate team partners at Tyco Suzuki including Norbain, WOT Security, First City Care and UBM.
"It's obviously great to have a new title partner in place but even better to have a group of people as enthusiastic as the guys from Tyco," Neill added. "We've known each other for a while now and when the opportunity arose, it was very easy for both parties to reach a decision.
"At TAS Racing nothing changes: we are the same team that has operated in the BSB paddock since 2004, albeit now under the Tyco Suzuki banner. The icing on the cake for us is being able to return to our favoured blue and white colour scheme - a livery we have used since our first association with Suzuki many years ago."
Phil Dashey - Tyco Security Products, General Manager & Vice President, said, "Tyco is thrilled to partner with TAS Racing and Suzuki GB for the 2012 BSB season. The team has shown unrivalled levels of professionalism and a pure passion for the sport, and having spent time with Philip, the team and Suzuki, I believe they are a perfect match for Tyco, our products and our partners.
"If you didn't know, Tyco's global R&D site for our cutting edge security systems is actually based not too far from TAS in Belfast, where we have almost 200 brilliant people. Our participation in BSB, so far, has been exciting enough, but it's time to make our assault on the championship.
"Of course it's not just in BSB where you can look out for Tyco. We are partnering TAS and Suzuki for the 2012 International Road Racing season and we are very excited about the TT and the NW200.
"Finally I'd like to thank our 'co-pilots' Barry Shakespeare from Norbain; Paul Morris from WOT Security; Ian Glen from Beacon Security; Chris Richards from First City Care and Charlie Cracknell from UBM. And of course Stuart Higgs and his team from MSVR who really surpassed themselves in creating the most exciting BSB season ever in 2011.
