Michael Laverty confirms race-winning rider line-up for team’s debut BSB season

Michael Laverty’s GRYD Racing team will step into BSB next season with BMW and two race winning riders.

The team has signed Storm Stacey and two-time runner-up Glenn Irwin for the 2027 BSB campaign, which will be its first in the class. GRYD has been involved with TAS Racing this season, and Laverty entered Richard Kerr under MLav Racing in 2025.

For Irwin, the move to GRYD means a third team in as many seasons after PBM at the start of 2025 and Nitrous Competitions since the middle of last year, and it’s a move that also comes in-sync with BSB’s incoming technical overhaul.

“What an exciting time for the entire British Superbike Championship as we move into probably the biggest regulation change that I have ever experienced,” Irwin said.

“To step into this new era along with a team full of experience headed up by Michael Laverty, who is someone who I have a huge amount of respect for, as a rider in his career and a person, is incredible. 

“The GRYD Racing team has continued to grow in such a short space of time, giving opportunities to many young riders and that is commendable.”

Storm Stacey makes the switch after two years with Michael Rutter’s Bathams team. Stacey competed with the GRYD team at the North West 200 this year, where he won on-debut aboard an M1000 RR with technical support from Alpha Racing, and GRYD will have a technical partnership with Alpha – an official partner of BMW’s motorcycle racing division – in BSB next season.

“The whole project has a big team feeling to it and that is something that I feel I will thrive on,” said Stacey.

“For now, we are looking forwards and I can’t wait to throw my leg over the BMW M 1000 RR and experience the new BSB regulations in due course.

“The support and technical development from [Alpha Racing] is something that really excited me. I feel the team is going to be extremely strong on a team level, a technical level and on a manufacturer level.”

Michael Laverty added: “It’s great to be able to confirm our line-up for the 2027 BSB season for GRYD Racing and our new partnership with BMW Motorrad and technical support from alpha Racing. 

“To be able to get two exciting riders like Storm [Stacey] and Glenn [Irwin] onboard the Alpha Racing bespoke built BMW, with their previous successes and potential for the future, is a nice mix of youth and experience together inside the garage.

“I think it’s a great line-up, a great technical pairing with alpha Racing behind us, who we won the Superstock championship together with Ilya Mikhalchik. We’ve grown our Superstock operation to two riders this year with Simon Reid and Lewis Rollo and now to grow that side of our GRYD Racing to a Superbike team alongside our Superstock line-up.

“As GRYD Racing we are excited to make our BSB debut next season and great for myself and David [Eltherington, team co-owner] to put this all together at an exciting time in the championship. We have two exciting riders and our loyal partners and we are looking forward to continuing to expand and grow our team.”