Ballymoney's Michael Dunlop will make his Macau Grand Prix debut this weekend and his team boss Paul Bird has said the two-time Isle of Man TT winner is defintely not there to make up the grid numbers.
The younger Dunlop has never raced the Guia circuit before but team-mates Conor Cummins and Jeremy Toye have, so the squad has some experience of the 3.8-mile track set on the coast of China in the Guangdong province.
"Having won the race for the past three years, it's a shame Stuart couldn't defend his title but in his absence, we're pretty well placed to challenge for the win I feel. Conor is ready to step up to the plate again after his big TT crash and has the experience round here and Jeremy is capable of a podium for sure, as he proved last year," said Bird.
"Michael won't take long to learn the place and he's not come here to make up the numbers so I think the established riders might be in for a bit of a surprise."
