Hero Motocorp and Erik Buell Racing (EBR) will participate in the 2014 World Superbike Championship (WSBK) together for the year 2014 iteration of the event. EBR will make its debut in WSBK with its recently introduced 1190RX model, which was first presented at the AIMExpo in October 2013. The newly developed EBR 1190RX is a brand new bike, with 426 newly developed parts. The power and torque figures for the new machines are extremely impressive too, with 185 bhp of power at 10,600 rpm and 137.8 Nm of torque at 8200 rpm.
The 2014 Team Hero EBR will have Geoff May and Aaron Yates as its riders in WSBK. Team Hero EBR will have Claudio Quintarelli as its team owners and Giulio Bardi as the Team Manager. Both May and Yates have earlier raced together in the 2013 AMA Pro Road Racing SuperBike series in 2013. May finished fifth in the standings while Yates managed an eighth position in the championship. This will be gthe first full-time international competition for both the riders.
It’s notable that Hero Motocorp owns 49.2% in EBR. Hero has sponsored EBR’s race program in America during recent years and EBR has been sharing its technological know-how with hero for its product line-up in India.
In an official press release, Erik Buell, Founder of EBR Motorcycles, said “More than three decades of racing, engineering, and manufacturing experience goes into every EBR motorcycle. The EBR 1190RX has some very unique engineering technology, and how to optimize this for each race series is something that takes time to learn. With the winter testing ban, we will have to wait and see where we are in terms of current pace and performance. Nobody is expecting podiums, but we will be hard at work, learning and improving. We are confident EBR will bring a fun and exciting story to the series, and know the results will come.”
Mr. Pawan Munjal, Managing Director & CEO of Hero MotorCorp Ltd said “We are delighted to be partnering with EBR at the Superbike World Championship this year. Hero is the first Indian two-wheeler brand to be associated with this event and this is also the debut year for Team Hero EBR at the series. This is in perfect sync with brand Hero’s fast-paced global expansion into new international markets. I am sure it is going to be a lot of fun and we do look forward to some exciting times at the championships this year.”