Team sign Niki Tuuli and are to miss the Opening Round to Develop New Engine
QJMotor tests a new prototype engine for the 2025 World Supersport Championship
The QJMotor Team will miss the opening round of the World Supersport season as they begin testing a new engine.
The 2024 World Supersport season was a learning year for QJMotor, who made their debut in World Supersport.
After gaining knowledge of the series the Chinese manufacturer wants to develop a new version of the SRK 800 RR.
"This will be on a completely different level. Last year's bike wasn't a supersport machine, it was a sports bike, that's the truth," team boss Manuel Puccetti told Speedweek.com.
"The new bike will be competitive - a new concept, a new engine."
The QJMotor World Supersport squad will be expanded to a two-rider team for its second season. Raffaele de Rosa will be joined by Niki Tuuli, taking some of the pressure off of the Italian's development efforts.
However, the new engine that QJMotor is developing will not be available for the World Supersport riders until the middle of the season.
"It's finally time to get back on track," said De Rosa. "We have a lot of new elements to test and solutions to evaluate and I can't wait to try out the new bike, even though it's still a prototype at the moment. The Jerez track is perfect for our tests because we have comparisons and the last event of the championship will take place there."
"I am very excited to start my adventure with QJMOTOR and all the members of my new team," Tuuli said. "It's been a long time since I got on a racing bike and I can't wait to get on the track and test the SRK 800 RR. These two days will be very important as we have to test all the new elements and understand their potential. I am also curious to try out the new bike."
The Chinese manufacturer will skip the opening round of the World Supersport season in Australia. Instead, de Rosa and Tuuli will not begin their World Supersport campaign until the end of March in Portugal.
