In addition to his new Superbike, Dunlop will race a V2 again this season in conjunction with the Scars Racing team and his own MD Racing outfit in the Supersport class, and has revealed on social media that he will continue his partnership with Hawk Racing to run the V4.
Dunlop took three wins at last year’s North West 200 as he ended his nine-year victory drought at the international road race, which takes place on 8.9 miles of closed public roads on Northern Ireland’s north coast.
He followed that up with four victories at the Isle of Man TT to stretch his winning record to 33 wins.
“Last year was good at the North West with three wins and it could have been more.
“It would be nice to go back and build on it. I’m excited to get this project going, but we could have done with a lot more testing.
“I think it is going to be hotter and heavier this year than it ever was.”
Dunlop says there will need to be more testing time to set up the bike at the North West 200 “to get me into a better place of where I need to be”.
Despite the adjustments he needs to make for his new bike, Dunlop said “everything is good and I feel good”.
“We know the project and we know the bike is good.
“It has stacks of potential, and hopefully we can make it fit into place at the North West 200.
“I think there will be some great racing, but it’s going to be hard work. We’ve got a few hurdles and we need to sort them.”
