Tonight, at the 2018 Suzuki intro at the Joe Gibbs Racing shop in North Carolina, Suzuki announced that JGR would serve as the primary factory effort for the brand in 2018.
The team—officially called AutoTrader.com/Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing—will field four 250 riders (two on each coast in supercross) and two 450 riders in Monster Energy Supercross and two 250 and 450 riders in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. Those riders will be named in the coming weeks. Jeremy Albrecht will return as team manager.
The team is an expansion of the current relationship between JGR and Suzuki. The announcement comes a week after Suzuki and RCH Racing reached a mutual decision to conclude their partnership effective at the end of the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.
“JGR is very excited to deepen our partnership with Suzuki and Yoshimura,” said team owner Coy Gibbs. “The JGR crew has worked extremely hard to get into position to win championships, and this new effort and structure cements that championship-winning philosophy. We now have the right tools to lead the RM Army into battle. We are excited and ready to get the job done on every level.”
Kerry Graeber, SMAI’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, commented on the next step in the company’s ongoing goal of expanding its business. “Racing is an important part of our effort to sell off-road products, and we’re looking forward to an even stronger relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing. JGR is one of the most well-respected operations in racing. They share our vision of building a top-level team with elite athletes competing for championships.”
