British Superbike star John Laverty will make a return to competition on 2012 after signing with the Splitlath Redmond squad for 2012 alongside former World Supersport star Florian Marino.

Laverty was involved in an horrendous crash at Oulton Park last season, suffering multiple fractures but after several operations and a lenghty stay in hospital, he is now able to look forward to a return to action on an Aprilia RSV4

“I’m delighted to have signed to race for Splitlath Redmond this season, and it’s brilliant that John Dimbylow and Derek Redmond have given me this opportunity. When I first spoke to them last year I was quite taken aback that they wanted to sign me up given the injuries and the season I’d had. For me it was something special that they looked beyond last year and saw that it’s not all about the past season," said the 29-year-old Irishman.

“Once I knew I had a ride in place it gave me a little bit more of a target to work towards. The recovery has been going well with lots of physiotherapy, trips to see my osteopath and Derek has been helping out with some training advice – he’s a man who knows about injuries to the lower legs so it’s nice to bounce ideas around with him.

“I imagine it will be a slow start to the season for me, but I will become stronger as it goes on and by the end of it we should be firing on all cylinders. Splitlath Redmond is a brand new team with a whole new crew so that works in my favour. We are all working towards the same goal – that is to grow over the season so by the end we really can be mixing it at the sharp end.”