John McPhee has been confirmed as a World Supersport rider for 2023, and will ride a Kawasaki.
Four-time Grand Prix winner John McPhee is set to race for Vince64 by Puccetti Racing on a Kawasaki ZX-6R in the 2023 World Supersport Championship, his first season of World Championship racing outside of the Grand Prix paddock.
No official announcement has been made by Puccetti Racing, McPhee himself, or Vince64, but the provisional entry lists for WorldSBK, WorldSSP, and WorldSSP300 have been published today (29 December 2022).
The entry list confirms McPhee will run his usual #17 in his debut World Supersport campaign, and that he will be the only rider in the Vince64 by Puccetti Racing team.
Puccetti are of course a well-established fixture in the WorldSBK paddock, and especially in World Supersport. It was with Puccetti that Kenan Sofuoglu won the 2015 and 2016 WorldSSP titles, and his relationship with both the Puccetti team and Kawasaki was part of the reason Toprak Razgatlioglu debuted in WorldSBK with the team.
Now, Razgatlioglu is at Yamaha, of course, but Puccetti has run Can Oncu in WorldSSP since 2020, and the #61 has made progress in the Supersport class, despite not yet having won a race.
Oncu will be the only Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider in 2023, but, along with McPhee and the Vince64 by Puccetti Racing team, Motozoo Racing will be Puccetti-supported with their riders Luke Power from Australia and Britain’s Tom Booth-Amos, although Motozoo will be competing only in the European races.
Other British interests see the Dynavolt Triumph team field Harry Truelove and Niki Tuuli on the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS bikes, while 2021 British Superbike Champion Tarran Mackenzie is confirmed at the Petronas MIE MS Racing Honda Team.
Elsewhere, notable signings include that of Stefano Manzi and Ten Kate Racing Yamaha to field the #62 alongside Jorge Navarro.
The Italian, Manzi, won once in 2022 for Triumph, so, on the team which has won the last two WorldSSP crowns with Dominique Aegerter, he will surely be looking to win his first world title.
Additionally, Maiki Abe, son of the late Norick Abe, will race the European rounds for VFT Racing Yamaha.
