Riding the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade will be Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus, with the squad being run by the Netherlands-based Ten Kate Racing.
For Jonathan Rea, 23, the new season, which opens on 27 February at Phillip Island in Australia, will be his third in the World Superbike championship. The Northern Irishman finished in fifth place in 2009, taking two wins, while 2010 brought him fourth place in the championship.
“One of my main inspirations for racing was watching Castrol Honda’s Colin Edwards battle Troy Bayliss for the World Superbike championship in that epic season in 2002. It’s a real honour for me to be racing under those same famous colours for the 2011 season and I’ll be trying my hardest to recreate what Colin did for the Castrol Honda team. I think the bike looks fantastic and I know the Ten Kate guys back at the workshop have been working really hard on its technical development since last season finished so now I just can’t wait to get started,” Rea said in a release.
Ruben Xaus, meanwhile, first competed in the World Superbike championship in 1998 and finished as runner-up in 2003 before a two-year deal in MotoGP. The 32-year-old Catalan rider has 11 wins to his name and a total of 35 podium finishes to date.
“After many years of racing at world championship level it is very nice and important for me to be part of a big project like the new Castrol Honda team. The biggest motorcycle manufacturer in the world is joining together with one of the biggest lubricants companies in the world and supporting the Ten Kate team, which has had a lot of success with many world championship titles. All together it’s a big and really exciting mixture and I will give my talent and every effort to help Castrol and the Honda CBR1000RR become a regular winning partnership in the 2011 championship,” said Xaus.
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