Michael Dunlop confirms return to road racing

Michael Dunlop will be looking for further success this season

Michael Dunlop has confirmed that he will return to international road racing this season with Tyco BMW.

The Ballymoney rider has not competed since his brother William was killed in practice at the Skerries 100 last July.

It will be a second successive season with TAS Racing for Dunlop, who became the third most successful rider at the Isle of Man TT last year with his 18th career win at the event.

"I'm looking forward to working with TAS Racing again this year," he said.

"We grabbed a Superbike TT win last year, which was a good start, and the goal this year will be to go after both the Superbike and Senior TT wins on the island.

"BMW has launched a new bike, which I should be riding in a few weeks' time.

"With the added improvements to the package and a second season with the same team, we should be in a good place to go after both the big wins on the island."

Dunlop's win in the TT Superbike encounter on the opening Saturday of the Isle of Man TT lifted TAS Racing to 19 team victories at the Manx event.

The rider's full programme of events for Tyco BMW will be announced in the coming weeks.