Brad Ray says he cannot wait to get his belated 2023 WorldSBK Championship campaign underway as he gears up for his much anticipated full-time debut at Assen this weekend.

The 2022 British Superbike Champion (BSB) has been waiting patiently in the wings to get his season going with Motoxracing Yamaha, which has opted to contest only nine of the 12 European-based rounds this season.

As a result, Ray wasn't present for the two flyaway rounds that opened the 2023 season in Australia and Indonesia in March, but the waiting will finally be over this weekend when he joins the field for Round 3 at Assen in The Netherlands.

Hoping to benefit from debuting at a circuit he knows from his time competing in BSB, Ray is itching to finally get going.

“I’m super excited to finally get to my first race of the year at Assen underway and get stuck into WorldSBK," he told Bikesportnews.

"It will be nice to go to a track I already know and to get back to work with my Motoxracing Yamaha team.”

While this weekend's event won't be Ray's first-ever appearance in the series having competed as a points-scoring wild-card at Donington Park in 2018 on the Buildbase Suzuki, this will be his first full campaign on the international/European stage since he raced in the Red Bull Rookies Cup and Moto3 Junior World Championship in 2014.

He is the first BSB Champion to graduate straight to WorldSBK since 2019 BSB Champion Scott Redding graduated with Ducati in 2020.