PTR chosen to lead factory Triumph return to British Supersport in 2021
Triumph picks Performance Technical Racing (PTR) to run its factory-backed return to BritishSSP with a 765cc Street Triple RS-based model
Stalwart WorldSSP team Performance Technical Racing will return to UK shores for 2021 after being chosen as the partner team to Triumph’s renewed factory-backed assault on the British Supersport Championship.
Last week the British marque confirmed it would forge a path back to BritishSSP a few years after it last competed with the Daytona 675. It will race with a machine developed around the 765cc triple-cylinder platform as part of a trial in conjunction with the FIM, which is determining whether to swell Supersport regulations to allow motorcycles up to 960cc.
The overhaul has come about in response to a dwindling pool of viable options that conform to the current 600-675cc regulations because of a weakening marketplace.
2020 Triumph Street Triple RS - REVIEW
As it stands, only the Kawasaki ZX-6R, MV Agusta F3 675 and Yamaha R6 - which is being taken off volume sale and reverting to track-only model status - can be realistically competitive, with the Honda CBR650RR unavailable in Europe and the Triumph Daytona 675 and Suzuki GSX-R600 discontinued.
This change in regulations - which FIM wants to use from 2022 - means models like the Triumph 765cc platform and the 955cc Ducati Panigale V2 would be eligible to compete.
Triumph and the FIM will therefore use BritishSSP as a testbed of sorts to assess equalisation, with PTR coming on board to take on the day-to-day running of the team.
“As things developed towards the end of this year, we were happy to be able to reach an agreement with Triumph to become the Official Triumph Team,” said Simon Buckmaster. “I’m really excited about this project, it’s a fantastic opportunity and to be working in collaboration with MSVR, Dorna and the FIM to update the rules for BSS and WSS is a real opportunity to do something for the good of motorcycle sport and I can honestly say I am proud to be a part of that.
“We can’t wait to get started; we are working together with Triumph to get the 765 Street Triple RS ready for the start of the 2021 season, to develop it through the season and to establish the eligibility for both series and other series in the world going forward. From that point of view, I would say this is the best thing that has ever happened to PTR and to me personally. As a young lad I started racing on a Triumph Bonneville so for me it is almost like going back to my roots.”
WorldSSP return for PTR and Triumph in 2022
A long-time partner of Honda in WorldSSP, with the ‘warm’ CBR650 underpowered against the R6 and ZX-6R, though PTR is stepping down from the world stage for this new project, it intends to take Triumph international again in 2022.
“We are currently talking to riders and we hope to be able to bring on some young British talent and achieve our aims of winning British Supersport in year one and challenge for the World title in World Supersport the year after.”
While the Triumph Daytona 765 [pictured above] conforms to these new regulations, its limited edition sold out status means using it as the base model would be somewhat irrelevant come April 2021. As such, the2 basic architecture will originate from the Street Triple RS naked, with fairing adapted accordingly.
The change in regulations would see Supersport become closer aligned with Moto2, which currently uses the same 765cc triple-cylinder engine as its grid-wide customer spec.
