Lucas Mahias lands 2021 WorldSBK promotion with Puccetti Kawasaki

Lucas Mahias will make a full-time move into the WorldSBK Championship next season after agreeing a new deal to step up from the Supersport ranks with Puccetti Kawasaki.

The Frenchman - who clinched the 2017 WorldSBK Championship title on a Yamaha - switched allegiances to Kawasaki in 2019, which operates the Japanese manufacturer’s factory effort in the middleweight class.

However, while the switch has not been without some frustrations as the Kawasaki ZX-6R struggles to match the pace and sheer volume of grid-dominating Yamaha YZF-R6s, Mahias has notched up a steady stream of wins - three in total, including one over the weekend at his home Magny-Cours round - plus 13 podiums in just under two seasons.

Now Mahias - renowned for a particularly 'gutsy' riding style - will get his proper shot at success on the ‘big bikes’ with Puccetti Kawasaki, a team keen to reassert its status as a satellite front runner after a lacklustre 2020 campaign with Xavi Fores relative to the wins and podiums it achieved with Toprak Razgatlioglu in 2019.

“This is the best news for me, I’m really happy; it is the sweetest moment of my career. When I come to World Championships, I had one dream to win in World Supersport and in 2017, I did that. I tried to win again, and it was a little bit difficult. 

“Now, in my head, the second dream is exactly the same in World Superbike. When I arrive at Puccetti Kawasaki I thought that maybe, with the Superbike in the box, if I can ride fast in WorldSSP then maybe I can have the Superbike in the future. 

“It’s a start of a new adventure with a lot of work but I’m ready for this challenge. I don’t have any goals for the moment apart from to improve step-by-step.

“For the moment, I don’t have a big objective, just to improve and to understand things for the future to ride at the front.”

Mahias has previously started two races in WorldSBK, scoring a top ten result on his debut with Pedercini Kawasaki in Assen.