Haga confirmed at Swan Yamaha

NORIYUKI HAGA has been confirmed at Swan Yamaha for the 2012 British Superbike season.

Visordown broke the news last week that Haga would be joining Swan Yamaha, the signing has since been confirmed today (Monday) and will see the former World Superbike rider in a permanent role with 2011 BSB championship winning team, replacing the injured Ian Hutchinson.

“It is a new challenge for me to race in BSB and I am now ready for the new season with Swan Yamaha," said Haga. "I feel that after many years in the same series this will be a kind of restart to my racing career. BSB has grown a lot and I have big support from the fans in the UK, so I liked the idea of racing in the Championship.

"It will also be a return to Yamaha, where I spent so many years taking many wins and now I feel like I am going back to my family. I have won races with Yamaha before in the World Championship and now I hope that we can do it again in BSB.

The former World Superbike rider has had success on British circuits, scoring podium finishes at Brands Hatch, Donington Park and Silverstone, on the challenge ahead he added: "I don't know several circuits in England and the BSB Championship but I will do my best to get results this year for the fans, myself and for Yamaha. We will start testing soon and I am very excited to get back on track as we have big ambitions for this season. Finally I hope that Ian Hutchinson can recover soon from his injury.”

Swan Yamaha Team Manager, Shaun Muir said: “It was a difficult situation for the Swan Yamaha team when Ian (Hutchinson) was sidelined with just four weeks remaining before we begin our pre-season testing programme. We then had to set out to find a replacement rider and the result for us could not have been better.

"We are absolutely delighted that Noriyuki will be joining us and we are now looking forward to welcoming him into the team. Noriyuki has such vast experience of racing a Superbike and during his career has always had a strong partnership with Yamaha and we are happy that we can continue that relationship this year. The Swan Yamaha team won the title last season and Noriyuki is really ready for the challenge of BSB and is coming to race here to win.”

Click here for the 2012 British Superbikes calendar