Leon Haslam will make a return to the World Superbike Championship next month when he will ride for the Pedercini Kawasaki team.

Haslam will be fresh from his second place in the 2016 MCE British Superbike Championship and heads to the Losail circuit before moving on to Suzuka for the Japanese Superbike finale where he joins the works team.

“Lucio Pedercini has been asking me to ride for most of the year but it has not allowed because of my British Superbike and Japanese commitments but now it’s end of season, so we have put something together,” said Haslam, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“This is something that Kawasaki want me to do and I get to test the full Kawasaki World Superbike-spec bike. It has the same engine, electronics and suspension as the factory bike, it’s only the swingarm that is different.

“There will be no pressure, I can just get on and race. It will be good to get an understanding of the development of the World Superbike, the direction and everything else.”