Sheridan Morais to make first WorldSBK appearance since 2016 in Estoril

Estoril won’t be the only thing making a comeback to the WorldSBK Championship this weekend after Sheridan Morais was confirmed to ride the Orelac Kawasaki in Portugal.

A regular of the WorldSBK paddock with numerous starts in the premier class, as well as WorldSSP and the now discontinued Superstock category, 35-year old South African Morais will step in for Maximilian Scheib, who is still recovering from injuries sustained in Barcelona.

Making his first WorldSBK appearance way back in 2009, South African Morais completed a full season for Grillini Kawasaki in 2014. 

That was also when he started his last WorldSBK race after an outing at Donington Park in 2016 was scuppered by injury. He’d go on to enjoy a race-winning turn at Supersport level in 2017 aboard a Yamaha.

“As always I am happy to be able to give a rider like Sheridan a chance since we all know that pilots with his talent are difficult to find,” team manager Jose Calero said. “You have a good opportunity to show that your work and perseverance is to be among the best. This is the last race of this tough season for us, but we have not stopped showing that our team has a serious and consolidated structure. 

“That is why, for a few races, we have been preparing for the coming season with the KRT and Kawasaki official team to be able to start the next year even stronger with the improvements of the Kawasaki. 

“We already know the rider that we will take in SBK® in the 2021 season and it will be made public shortly.”