Former Alstare Suzuki team member Fonsi Nieto will be taking injured Max Neukirchner’s place in this weekend’s South African World Superbike Championship sixth round at Kyalami in South Africa.

Nieto raced for the team last year and so knows the crew very well, but he has no experience of the Alstare Brux GSX-R1000 K9 and will be starting the first day of practice completely afresh.

Fonsi Nieto said: “Firstly, I want to wish Max all the best for a quick recovery. His crash at Monza was not his fault and he is lucky that the injuries are not worse than they are. I am very grateful to Francis Batta for giving me this opportunity to ride for the team again and I will do my best to repay his faith in me. Although I know the team, I do not know the bike because it is a completely new and different bike to last year’s model. I will have to learn the bike and learn the track at the same time and that is not so easy, but I will do my best for sure.”

World Superbikes have not raced at the circuit since 2002 when Troy Bayliss won both races. Although the track has stayed mostly the same there have been some minor revisions to the final chicane. As these revisions were not in place when the teams tested last December the circuit will be new territory for most of the riders.