Running high specification Ducati 999F04 V-twin machinery the GSE squad will be a two-rider team, with the riding line up to be released in due course. GSE Racing will also renew a partnership with Dunlop tyres, a co-operation which has previously netted British Championships and World Superbike race wins.

The 2005 version of GSE Racing will feature largely the same backroom staff as in previous years, headed up by owner and Team Principal Darrell Healey. Team Manager Colin Wright will once more control the racing operations of the double British Championship winning team. GSE will return to the 13-round British Series with the full blessing and support of Ducati Corse.

Having secured two previous crowns in the British Championship, with Troy Bayliss in 1999 and Neil Hodgson in 2000, the credentials of the GSE Racing operation are unquestioned. A return to active duty for GSE will be a momentous occasion for British racing as a whole, thanks to their successes in World Championship competition.

Having always run Ducati V-twin machinery, with strong support from the Borgo Panigale-based Ducati Corse concern, the GSE team has won four World Championship races in its own right. Moreover, the ability to spot, support and develop talent has seen three former GSE Racing riders promoted to full factory status in Ducati’s World Superbike team. Of even more significance, Troy Bayliss, Neil Hodgson and now James Toseland have all gone on to ultimate World Superbike success, with Hodgson and Toseland taking their crowns only one season after their move from GSE to the factory team.

Team Principal Healey stated, “After one year out of racing our hunger to return is evident in the attitude of the staff and our new riders. Ducati has once more supplied us with high-level machinery, for what looks like it will be an even more competitive season than last year. We are a British team, so racing at home, in one of the most prestigious race series on earth, is an exciting prospect for us all.”

Ducati Corse Superbike Program Director, Paolo Ciabatti, added, “We are really glad to be able to work again with GSE Racing. Our relationship, which began in 1998, has been growing stronger and stronger over the years and has brought to Ducati many successes, thanks to the team’s very professional management and to their ability to select and motivate their riders. After one year of absence from the racetracks, we are happy that GSE have confirmed their loyalty to Ducati for their BSB comeback”.

The first round of British Championship competition is scheduled for March 26 – 28, at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, a short hop from the GSE Group Headquarters, at Ashford in Kent.