Leon Camier is set to make the move to join the Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team for 2018, taking on the World SBK Championship with the Dutch-based squad after three full seasons with MV Agusta.
Currently sitting in eighth position in the world championship standings, the British rider has seen his season begin to improve with the Italian factory, putting in some highly impressive performances and is getting close to that sought-after podium finish.
Announcing he will make the move to the Japanese manufacturer, Camier will be helping the Honda team to continue to develop and understand their new CBR1000RR SP2 Fireblade, which has had a steady debut season in WorldSBK.
2017 has been a difficult year for the Ten Kate Honda team, following the tragic loss of Nicky Hayden in May and Stefan Bradl forced to sit out of the final three rounds of the season with a wrist injury.
With Camier now onboard, they will be looking ahead to a strong 2018 with the British rider, and he will begin winter testing for the new team at the end of the season.
Marco Chini, Honda’s WorldSBK Operations Manager expresses his delight at the announcement: “We’re extremely happy to have Leon on board for the upcoming WorldSBK season.”
“He’s a great talent and an extremely professional rider, so I’m sure it will be a pleasure to work with him. We’re confident that his expertise will help us raise the performance of the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 to a whole new level, so we’re looking forward to the new challenge.”
“Right now however, there’s still a season to complete, so we are fully concentrated on the remaining rounds in order to improve our package and finish the year on a high note.”