Seven-time TT winner Michael Dunlop has teamed up with BMW Motorrad UK for this year’s Isle of Man TT Races, the event’s organiser announced on its website.
The 24-year-old Irish racer will join the BMW Motorrad Motorsport-supported road racing team in a partnership that also involves Hawk Racing. They are supported via the global sports programme as the team strives to match Georg Meier’s BMW win in the Isle of Man Senior TT achieved 75 years ago.
The team will run both a Superstock BMW in Dunlop Racing livery and a Superbike BMW S1000 RR in BMW Motorsport livery. The team will be jointly supervised by BMW Motorrad UK and Stuart Hicken from the Buildbase BMW Motorrad team, which is also controlled by Hawk Racing. Hicken was one of the racers that contributed to his team’s stellar performance in the 2013 British Superbike Championship.
Commenting on the partnership, Dunlop said he was pleased to join such a strong and competitive team. The rider admitted he had planned to keep away from races this year, but is hopeful that the support from BMW Motorrad Motorsport and the great team he is now part of will make them “a force to be reckoned with.”
2014 marks the 75th anniversary of Georg Meier’s victory at the prestigious Senior TT race in 1939, when he rode for the BMW team. He contributed to BMW’s first TT win and also became the first foreign winner of the race.