ANDERSON LINES UP WITH TEAM CLASSIC SUZUKI FOR TT 2023

Team Classic Suzuki will return for the 2023 Isle of Man TT Races with Shaun Anderson riding for Steve Wheatman’s team in their second year at the event.

More associated with the classic racing scene, Wheatman will field Anderson on their immaculate Suzuki GSXR-1000 machinery in the RST Superbike, RL360 Superstock and Milwaukee Senior TT Races.

And, after a solid maiden year at the TT in 2022, Wheatman’s highly-professional outfit will have high hopes of breaking into the top ten with a rider of Anderson’s calibre, signed him for the four 1000cc races scheduled in 2023.

The Northern Irishman, who made his TT debut in 2012, now has 37 starts under his belt with 15 top-twenty finishes to his name, 8 of those coming in his two most recent campaigns.

Anderson is well experienced when it comes to riding Suzuki’s too, with his fastest lap to date around the Mountain Course – a highly impressive 128.672mph – set during the 2018 Superbike Race when riding his own, privately prepared machine.

Although his best finishes, sixth and seventh, came in the TT Zero races of 2018 and 2019, it’s the 1000cc class where he’s shone the most and nowhere was this highlighted more than 12 months ago.

Riding for Stuart and Steve Hicken’s Hawk Racing team onboard Suzukis once more, the Banbridge rider took an excellent 9th-place in the opening Superbike Race with a near 128mph lap, and backed this up with 12th in the Senior when conditions were far from ideal with high winds over the Mountain.

Team Classic Suzuki, meanwhile, recruited Forest Dunn and former Senior Manx Grand Prix winner Tom Weeden for their maiden TT outing last year, with Dunn giving them their best result as he lapped in excess of 122mph on his way to 24th in the Superbike Race.

Wheatman and his team, who have enjoyed success at the Classic TT with Michael Dunlop, will now look to build on this and, with Anderson on board, hope to make a significant impression on the leaderboard.

Shaun Anderson: “A huge thanks have to go to Steve and Nathan [Colombi], for putting this package together for me.”

“It seems a lot of people are jumping about and changing manufactures for this year, and it will be interesting to see how we compare. But I know the bikes are strong, I personally can take confidence from knowing that we will be arriving with bikes I’m familiar with and have taken me into the top 10 at the Superbike Race. We know the package has the speed in it, as we have seen the Suzuki win races here in the last few years and lap in the 133mph bracket, so it’s just about extracting that speed for me.”

“Now it is just about getting some saddle time and getting to know the team so we can be ready to fight at the TT.”