Milwaukee Yamaha boss Shaun Muir expects Ian Hutchinson to be right in the hunt for victory at the Macau Grand Prix as the Yorkshire rider makes his latest racing return.

‘Hutchy’ suffered a badly injured left leg following an end-of-season crash in a British championship race at Silverstone in 2010 that threatened to end his career.

He returned to action in 2012 but the softly-spoken English rider was clearly some way off full fitness as he struggled to match his terrific form of old.

The 34-year-old took a year out following further surgery to repair his shattered leg and is now poised to embark the first stage of his preparations for 2014 as he targets the podium on Saturday at Macau in the Far East.

Hutchinson followed a similar path on his racing return in 2011, finishing third behind Michael Rutter and Martin Jessopp on the treacherous Guia street course, but this time Muir expects the eight-time TT winner to give an even better account on the YZF-R1.

Muir, who has remained loyal to ‘Hutchy’ in the years since his horror smash, told the News Letter:

“Hutchy is fully focused on wining at Macau and if he comes back from there with a victory, I fully expect him to start the season in a position where he’ll be looking for success at the TT.

“He tested at Almeria and was very, very quick and then we had a full day at Donington Park and he was quick there again on the Superbike.

“At the moment he’s got somewhere in the region of 200 laps under his belt over the last four weeks, so he’s going to Macau looking for a win – he’s not there to make the numbers up and he’s ready to go there and give it a good go.”

The line-up for the 47th running of the Macau Grand Prix is headed by eight-time winner Michael Rutter, who will again ride Robin Croft’s SMT Honda Fireblade following his record success last November.

The opposition includes Morecambe’s John McGuinness on the Honda TT Legends Fireblade, plus Martin Jessopp on the Riders BMW, who has finished as the runner-up for the past two years.

Macau regular Stephen Thompson returns on the T&R GSX-R1000 Suzuki and is joined by fellow Northern Ireland riders Lee Johnston (East Coast Honda), Jamie Hamilton (VRS Honda) and Davy Morgan (CSC Racing Suzuki).




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