Five-time World Superspo📖rt cham🐼pion Kenan Sofuoglu has confirmed he will retire from racing after next weekend’s Imola round having been hampered by injury in recent months.

Sofuoglu suffered a nasty broken hip in a crash at Magny-Cours while fighting for the World Supersport titlꦦe last year and made an impressive comeback at the final round in Qatar but it wasn’t enough to stop Lucas Mahias from sealing the worlꦜd championship.

After recovering from the injury over the winter, Sofuoꦆglu suffered a huge crash at the 2018 seasoon opener at Phillip Island and despite being able to race in A🐻ustralia he was forced out of the following three rounds in Thailand, Spain and the Netherlands.

Reports have emerged in recent weeks that the Turkish rider would be announcing his retirement from racing due to his inju🐻ries, which have now been confirmed by his Puccetti Kawasaki squad.

Sofuoglu will return to action at the Imola round for a final outing, to mark his 20^th annivers👍ary of racing, before꧋ retiring at the age of 33.

Alongside his five World Supersport titles, making him the most successful rider in the series’ history, Sofuoglu has claimed🌊 a career total of 85 podiums and 43 race wins.

Sofuoglu, who has been supported by the Turkish President a🎃s a sport leader in his home nation, says the decision has been made with his health in mind.

“As the President wishes I am going to retire from racinಞg this weekend, and I will celebrate my 20 years of racing anniversary this weekend,” Sofuoglu said. “In the last couple of months I had a few injures which made my family very a🧔fraid, as well as our President.

“I have decided to retire from racing earlier than I originally thought, but I can’t say I am sad because I have al🐬ready coached a🥃nd trained a few Turkish riders who will carry the flag for me.

“I started my racing career 20 years ago, with a goal to race in the world championships, and I have won the world title five times; I am very thankful for that. Many people supported me while winning these titles and I want to thank everyone for that. For Kawasaki Puc🙈cetti Racing Team and for my fans, I will be on track one last time from 11th – 13th May in Italy.”

Manuel Puccetti, Kawasaki Racing Team manager, says he accepts his rider’s decision and has thanked him for his efforts and the success they’ve enjo♌yed together. Sofuoglu will continue to work inside the Puccetti squad as World Superbike rider Toprak Razgatlioglu’s manager.

💯“We are really sorry to lose such a talent like Kenan in the team, but we understand and respect his decision,” Puccetti said. “For us it has been an opportunity to work with one of the most professional and strongest riders in the Supersport category.

“It has been an honour having him in the team. We would like to th🐬ank him because we have grown a lot thanks to him and his collaboration.

“With Kawasaki we made a fantastic group and for sure we will keep working together in the future. Kenan is the manager of our current rider in WorldSBK, and in the future we will probaꦑbly have other talents from his school and we will keep working together with Kawasaki and the Turkish Motorcycle Federation. There are many different best moments of our seasons together, but I will never forget the feeling when we won our first title at Magny-Cours. I think that it is really difficult to forget.”

Puccetti is yet to confirm a permanent replacement for Sofuoglu for the remainder꧋ of the 2018 World Supersport campaign after the Imola round, having had Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman step in at the Thailand round and Sheridan Morais fill in at the back-to-back Aragon and Assen rounds.