Triumph returns to World Supersport

After three seasons away from the FIM Supersport World Championship, Triumph will make their return to the category this year, with a two-rider squad run by UK-based Performance Technical Racing (PTR).

Triumph follows Ducati in returning to the World Supersport category, responding to changes in regulations for the middleweight production bike class that come into effect this season.

PTR, who raced Honda CBR600RRs for 13 years (most recently as Dynavolt Honda in 2020), sat out last year’s World Supersport season but make their return this year as ‘Dynavolt Triumph’.

Replacing the Daytona 765 that the likes of Profile Racing (the last team to run Triumphs) used in 2018, Dynavolt Triumph will campaign a ‘Street Triple 765 RS,’ modified to category rules.

Triumph-mounted riders secured seven podiums and one pole position during their previous stint in World Supersport, but they’ve yet to take a race win.

Run by Simon Buckmaster, Dynavolt Triumph have signed Hannes Soomer and Stefano Manzi for the 2022 World Supersport season in what’s seen as a mix of experience and youth. While both riders are young – Soomer is 24 and Manzi turns 23 in March – Soomer has been in World Supersport since 2016, while Manzi has had only one previous start in the category, at last year’s Jerez round.

Estonian-born Soomer is a former European Supersport Champion and a race winner in the European Junior Cup. His best season in World Supersport was 2020, when he claimed three podiums and one pole on a Yamaha R6 with Kallio Racing, while his best championship placing – ninth – was achieved in the same year.

“I am very happy to join the Dynavolt Triumph team for the 2022 season,” Soomer said. “I truly believe in the bike’s potential and the team’s experience and am sure we can find a good way to work quickly.

“This year will present some new challenges with the new regulations which makes it very unpredictable and interesting. I can only say we will give it our all.”

Manzi, who’s essentially a World Supersport rookie, first showed his potential in the Red Bull Rookies Cup before progressing to Moto3 in 2015, where his best race result was a fourth place at Donington in 2016. Manzi then moved up to Moto2 in 2017 and spent five seasons in the category, where his best race result was fourth, achieved at Valencia in 2019 – the same year Triumph began as engine supplier to the Moto2 category. The Italian’s best championship placing across both junior GP categories was 19th in Moto2 last year.

“I am really happy to be part of this team and part of the project to bring Triumph back to the World Championship,” Manzi said. “I am focussed to be 100 per cent ready for the beginning of the season. I cannot wait to be back on track on my new bike.”

Simon Buckmaster, Dynavolt Triumph Team Manager, added: “We are really pleased to announce that we have come to an agreement with Hannes Soomer for our official Dynavolt Triumph team. To be honest, I’ve been watching Hannes’ progress in recent years and have spoken to him the last couple of seasons about the possibility of signing for our team, so I’m pleased that for this year we’ve been able to make an agreement together.

“We’re really pleased to sign Stefano Manzi from the VR46 Academy to ride with the Dynavolt Triumph team in our return to World Supersport this year. He is an exciting prospect with a good performance level in his seasons in Moto2.

“[Manzi also] competed in WorldSSP so understands the Pirelli tyres and, of course, understands the Triumph engine well. I won’t say he is going to surprise a few because a lot of people think he is going to be a good front runner and that is what we want, challenging for race wins and the title.”

The 2022 World Superport season gets underway at Aragon on 8-10 April.