Federico Caricasulo will return to the FIM Supersport World Championship in 2021 with the GMT94 Yamaha team, alongside Jules Cluzel who will enter his third consecutive season with the French squad. The 24-year-old Italian will step back into the class after a year of moderate success in WorldSBK. His goal for World Supersport is to be a Championship contender right from the start of the season and return to winning ways. For Cluzel, he was unfortunate not to be inside the top three at the end of the year but the three-time runner-up and bronze-medallist is keen to finally make it the title in 2021.

Caricasulo’s time in WorldSSP has mostly been successful and he came up through the ranks of STK600 before, alongside the likes of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael Ruben Rinaldi. In 2014, he finished fifth with numerous podiums, before improving to third overall in 2015, taking his first victory at Misano, the same race Razgatlioglu became Champion. For 2016, he moved up to World Supersport and was an immediate hit, taking second in his first ever race behind fellow rookie Randy Krummenacher, someone who he’d later go on to battle hard with in years to come.

2017 marked the start of ‘Carica’s’ relationship with Yamaha as he joined the GRT Yamaha World Supersport effort and in just his second race for the team, took victory at Buriram. He would take another win as the year progressed to finish fifth overall. He was fifth again in 2018, taking a win before changing teams to the BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team, run by Fabio Evangelista. Caricasulo took nine consecutive podiums and three wins, battling for the title with teammate Krummenacher all the way to the final round, where ‘Krummi’ came out on top and Caricasulo missed out by just six points.

However, fortune would be in his favour as he moved up to WorldSBK for 2020, return to the GRT Yamaha team. However, despite the hype surrounding his move up and excitement after a good preseason testing, it’d take Caricasulo until the ninth race of the year to crack the top ten. Four more top ten results would follow and a best of 11^th on the grid, Caricasulo was outperformed by fellow rookie and teammate Garrett Gerloff, who managed three podiums.

Speaking about his return to the WorldSSP class and commenting on his excitement of partnering with the GMT94 Yamaha team, he said: “It's obviously a joy to join a team like GMT94. I come here to win. I know that Christophe and his team will do their maximum to provide the best bike possible. I am particularly proud to wear the number #94, so dear to the whole team.”

Team owner and former WorldSBK racer, Christophe Guyot, expressed his delight at welcoming Caricasulo back to the class and into his team: “For our third full season in WorldSSP, it is important to be World Champions. With Federico Caricasulo alongside Jules Cluzel, we couldn't dream of a better team. As always, the technical teams of the two riders will work together, which will allow everyone to benefit from the best possible settings of our Yamaha R6 to take us to the world title.”

Find out how this star-studded team go in 2021 with the comprehensive WorldSBK VideoPass!