Guy Martin to front Relentless Suzuki RR effort
Relentless by TAS Suzuki has announced its first signing of the 2011 season with the acquisition of road-racing specialist Guy Martin.
Fresh from the announcement that it will receive official backing from Suzuki in 2011, the Relentless team has signed Martin with the intention of entering him in the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT, as well as several British Superstock events.
It will be an emotional return to the TT for Martin, following a serious accident on the event this year, but the popular Lincolnshire rider is looking forward to getting started with what he describes as the 'best team he's been with to date'.
"You just don't get any more of a proven team than Relentless by TAS Suzuki and with their official support from Suzuki and something like 15 TT wins, it wasn't a difficult decision to make," Martin said. "I was at a Pirelli test earlier this year and took 101 pictures of their bikes and the preparation of them is 'proper' - that's what made my mind up.
"They are the best team I've been with do date; that's all there is to it. I just want to hit the ground running now. After pre-season we'll hopefully do some Superstock races in the British Championship, as we know the GSX-R1000 is well capable.
"Let's face it - it won the Championship just last year with Alastair Seeley on it. Yeah it's all proper and I'm looking forward to getting started."
"It's been a difficult decision changing our line-up as we pride ourselves on loyalty," added Philip Neill. "In saying that, Guy is a rider I've wanted to work with for a couple of seasons now, and my loyalty to other riders probably held that decision back a little.
"He came to us full of enthusiasm and wants to do things our way, which was a good starting point. And on top of that, I'm a sucker for a challenge and I like Guy's free spirit attitude. He's created a Guy Martin brand without even trying and that's also pretty special.
"Obviously we know he's a very talented rider and has been extremely unlucky not to have won races at both the North West 200 and the TT.
"So our motivation is to complete that task, while making sure Guy also fulfils his commercial responsibility representing a manufacturer backed team. Having spoken to him at length before we agreed a deal, I know he wont let Suzuki or our sponsors down."
