INTERNATIONAL DUO FOR ROADHOUSE MACAU AT TT 2025
The Roadhouse Macau race team will again field a strong two-man line up at this year’s Isle of Man TT Races with team owner and regular rider Brian McCormack joined by 2024 IRRC Superbike Champion David Datzer.
Both riders will campaign the BMW M 1000 RR in the RST Superbike, Milwaukee Senior and RL360/PE Superstock TT races, on the same machinery that McCormack took to a top 10 finish in the 2024 Superbike TT.
Both McCormack and Datzer will also line up for the two Monster Energy Supersport TT races onboard Triumph machinery under the Global Robots / PHR Performance banner, whilst McCormack will also content the two Metzeler/Entire Cover insurance Supertwin TT races on the Global Robots Aprilia RS660.
Now 41, McCormack has been ever-present at the TT since making his debut in 2010 and has made some 59 starts establishing himself as a consistent leaderboard runner, particularly in the 1000cc races where he now has three top ten finishes to his name.
The most recent of those came last year when he took a fine tenth in the RST Superbike race, and he ended the week with six top twenty finishes from his seven races.
With 14 finishes inside the top 15 now to his name, and 41 replicas from his 44 race finishes, McCormack’s best lap remains 128.812mph set in the 2019 Senior so he’ll no doubt be looking to better that in 2025 and edge even further up the leaderboard.
For German ace Datzer, the move to the Roadhouse Macau team represents a great opportunity especially on the back on a disappointing TT in 2024 when a crash at the 11th Milestone in the first Supertwin TT severely affected his campaign. A lack of competitive machinery in the 1000cc classes also meant he only completed one racing lap.
However, last year saw him have another excellent year on the European road circuits, finishing on the podium in eight of the 11 IRRC rounds to take place. Wins at Hengelo, Schleiz, Imatra, Horice and Frohburg helped him claim his first title by five points from Lukas Maurer. That should be the perfect platform for the now 32-year-old to build on his previous TT performances.
Back on board his favoured BMW for this year’s TT, the double Macau Grand Prix podium finisher will be hoping to get back to the form shown in 2022 and 2023 when he took two top twenty finishes and lapped at almost 127mph.
The duo recently completed a successful two-day test at Jerez, Spain with further outings planned at Almeria, Andalucia and Valencia prior to the race season commencing.
Brian McCormack commented: “David and I got chatting a while back and I’ve always wanted to run a second rider and build the team up, so it didn’t take long to get everything in place.
“We ran Davo (Johnson) briefly in the Supersport class last year and David’s already got to grips with the Global Robots/PHR Performance Triumph which will give him plenty more laps at this year’s TT. He’s never really had a good structure around him at the TT, so we’ll be able to pass on plenty of knowledge and experience to him.
“With a good environment and good people, it will be of great benefit to him so together with his own BMW’s, we’re confident he’ll have a highly successful TT 2025.”
“From my side, last year’s TT was tough going as I was still recovering from my injuries sustained at Macau; after operations on my ankle and knee, I was on the back foot a bit and didn’t get the testing I’d have liked. The lap speeds were down, but I got another top ten in the Superbike race and finished all my other races, so it was a solid race week.
“I’m hoping this year will be a lot better as I’m probably the fittest I’ve ever been, and I’ll have had more track time ahead of this year’s TT than ever before. I feel really comfortable around the Mountain Course now and a lot of effort’s going into this year’s TT so I’m confident it’ll be a good year.”
David Datzer said: "For me, a team structure like Roadhouse Macau is a dream! Brian and I have known each other from years in the same paddock on the Isle of Man and after getting to know each other better at Jerez, we had a lot of fun and I’m very happy about the season ahead.
“It was good to get my first laps on the Triumph Daytona 765, a great bike, and I will also bring my own Datziii #55 Racing by TW-3 Racing BMWs to the team. Jerez was great preparation so TT 2025 has already begun for me with the Roadhouse Macau!”
