World Superbike Assen

Haslam to make early World Superbike return at Assen

Leon Haslam will contest this weekend’s World Superbike round at Assen for Pedercini following the Kawasaki satellite outfit’s split with Loris Cresson.

Rachit Thukral

Edited: Apr 22, 2022, 1:05 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Leon Haslam, Team HRC

The announcement means Haslam will take part in at least five WSBK rounds this year, having already signed a deal with Pedercini for four wildcard appearances at Misano, Donington Park, Most and Portimao.

Haslam previously made a one-off outing with Pedercini in the 2016 season finale in Qatar and went on to secure a seat with the factory Kawasaki squad three years later.

This was followed by a switch to Honda alongside Alvaro Bautista, but the British rider was dropped at the end of last year in favour of an all-rookie crew comprising Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona.

For 2022, Haslam’s primary programme is in the British Superbike Championship where he is riding a Kawasaki ZX-10RR for the Lee Hardy Racing team. However, his contract with Pedercini means he will also be present for nearly half of the 12 events that comprise the 2022 WSBK calendar.

“I have fond memories of Assen over the years and so when the opportunity arose to race with TPR Team Pedercini in one additional race it was easy to say yes,” said Haslam, a five-time race winner in WSBK and the 2018 BSB champion.

“I have ridden with the team before and achieved a top five result in Qatar and I know how they work.

"It will be a tough ask coming straight into Round 2 with no testing on the bike and the Championship being so strong this year but knowing that we will also race together in four other rounds after this, I am confident that we can gain a lot of valuable information and have a positive weekend together.”

Loris Cresson, TPR Team Pedercini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Pedercini had signed Cresson on a two-year deal in 2021 but the continuity of their partnership appeared to be in doubt when he was not named on the initial version of WSBK’s entry list for the new season.

The team did eventually announce Cresson after downscaling to a single Kawasaki entry in 2022, but the Belgian rider could only muster a pair of 23rd place finishes in the opening round of the season a fortnight ago.

The news of Pedercini’s split with Cresson was made official on Wednesday, less than 48 hours before the first practice session in the Netherlands.

It remains unclear who will ride the team’s primary bike for the remainder of the season after Assen.

“It is an unexpected first wildcard appearance with us for Leon who will now compete in at least five races for us this season,” said team principal Lucio Pedercini.

“We are sorry that we have not been able to continue with our original 2022 plan, but the show must go on and we delighted to welcome Leon back to the team earlier than we had anticipated. We go into the weekend confident of achieving three solid results.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Bautista sympathises with Redding's BMW struggles

Next article Assen WSBK: Bautista leads Friday practice for Ducati

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

2 h

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

3 h

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

Formula 1

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 7 h

“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts