News

The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is heading to Donington Park in the United Kingdom for the Prosecco DOC UK Round and there’s plenty of reason for the local fans to be cheering trackside. Following the announcement that Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) will be making his long-awaited debut as a wildcard, a second wildcard will be present in the main category as Peter Hickman returns to the paddock aboard the FHO Racing BMW. Hickman will be racing a BMW M1000RR with WorldSBK-spec electronics as he returns to the circuit at which he qualified fourth at back in WorldSBK’s 2019 event there, when he was aboard the factory BMW following an injury for permanent rider Markus Reiterberger.

A multiple Isle of Man TT race winner and lap record holder, British Superbike race winner across three different manufacturers and World Superbike points scorer, ‘Hicky’ has had a varied and successful career on two wheels. First making his WorldSBK class debut in 2012 for Paul Denning’s Crescent Suzuki team, he finished in ninth place at Donington Park in Race 2, coming from 19^th on the grid in what was a mighty ride through the field. Since then, Hickman has won for Honda, Kawasaki and BMW in BSB, as well as adding race wins at places such as the North West 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix to his CV, not to mention his usual British Superbike rides. He’s won six races in BSB, of which two came in 2021 with the FHO BMW, with team principal Faye Ho now expanding the team’s presence to World Championship racing.

Speaking of his Donington Park wildcard, Hickman said: “I’m mega excited to get a chance to have a go at WorldSBK. I’ve done it twice – once in 2012 with Worx Suzuki and again in 2019 with the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team but both times were last minute arrangements, jumping on bikes I had never seen before. This time I’ll be riding my FHO Racing BMW which I race in the British Superbike Championship so that will be good. We are having to work on raising the electronics package to World Superbike-spec which will change things quite a lot which could be interesting, but we’ll see.

“I think it’s fantastic that we’re getting the chance to do this as a team and it’s all down to Faye. She’s owned the team for a year and a half, and we’ve already done BSB, North West 200, Isle of Man TT and now we’re getting to do a World Superbike wildcard which is pretty cool. It’ll be good for everyone in the team to get to do a World Superbike round together, we’ve all done bits here and there but not as a team, so I think it’s going to be a really great thing for us all.”

Team Principal Faye Ho also shared her delight at leading her team into the WorldSBK paddock for the first time: “I’m thrilled to be able to announce FHO Racing’s participation in the UK Round of the FIM Superbike World Championship. We have already had a very busy 2022 but this opportunity has presented itself and as a team, we’ve jumped at it. The team has already demonstrated its strength in British Superbikes and on the roads, but we are always keen to push ourselves and expand into new areas where possible, so joining the WorldSBK grid at Donington Park was the next step.

“Peter has some experience, having taken part in this event twice before and many of the crew have worked in the series before so we will be arriving with some knowledge, and we are looking forward to learning more as we go. We will be heading into this event mainly for the experience but we are eager to learn and continue to grow as a team and this is something I feel will benefit the whole team going forward.”

Follow the team’s progress across the weekend with the WorldSBK VideoPass!