Former MotoGP rider Michael Laverty has confirmed a surprise move into road racing in 2025 with his MLav Racing Team and will field Ian Hutchinson and Mike Browne at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.
The Co Antrim man revealed both riders are set to ride BMW machinery after his plans were announced prematurely yesterday by fellow MotoGP pundit Neil Hodgson during live coverage of free practice at the Argentine Grand Prix.
Laverty told TNT Sports: “We are putting a team in the Isle of Man TT and the North West 200 this year.
“We will have a couple of quality riders on board… it will be Ian Hutchinson and Irish rider Mike Browne. So we will hopefully be officially announcing it in the next week or so.
“We will be on BMW powered machinery. I am working on the livery at the moment and one of the deadlines is today for RST leathers to produce the suits in time for testing.”
Laverty’s MLav Racing Team is established in the Moto3 World Championship, British Talent Cup and European Talent Cup, but this will be the former British Superbike and MotoGP rider’s first involvement as a team boss in a road racing team.
Hutchinson has won 16 TT races and is the only rider in history to win five races in the same week at the event, a feat he accomplished in 2010.
The 45-year-old’s career has been blighted by serious injuries, with Hutchinson’s latest setback coming in 2023 after he suffered a stroke while training, which caused him to miss the whole season.
He returned last year in Clive Padgett’s Honda team but will switch back to BMW power in 2025 after previously winning at the TT on the German machine with Northern Ireland’s TAS Racing outfit.
Co Cork rider Browne rode an Aprilia in the Superbike and Superstock classes in 2024 and is held in high regard.
He made his TT debut in 2019 and secured his first podium four years later in the Supertwin category when he rode for Dungannon man John Burrows’ team on an Italian Paton.