Ten Kate Yamaha team boss Kervin Bos has revealed he has high expectations for the squad and rider Loris Baz when they return to WorldSBK in at June’s Jerez round.

Equipped with a factory-supported R1, the team will test at Misano later this month before going back into the paddock they were ejected from by Honda and with a rider who has won WorldSBK races in the past.

“We have high expectations from him, and he also expects a lot from our team. His crew has been part of Ten Kate Racing for more than ten years, and he will have Mick Shanley as his crew chief, who also worked with us last year,” said Bos.

We know Baz very well and we believe he can become one of the top Yamaha’s rider this year. Our dream is to finish somewhere on the podium already this year. We know that this is possible with the package that we have.”

Yamaha have made their official R1 complement five with this addition to the grid with the two factory Pata bikes and the GRT customer team.

“We will be an official supported Yamaha team, so that means that we will receive the same materials and the same kind of support as the others WorldSBK Yamaha independent teams.

“That’s interesting because we know that this is a strong and competitive package. The Yamaha bikes went already on the podium, so we are looking forward to starting our season with their same pace.”

Ten Kate hope to run two bikes in the premier class next year and also build up a junior squad in Supersport and SSP300.

We aim to be able to line up two WorldSBK machines in 2020, but we are also working to be able to build up a Junior Team structure as we had in the past.

“We want to return competitive also in WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 next year, but before that our focus is on building up again a strong WorldSBK team with two riders, and then considering our return to the other categories as well.”