Australian teenager Hunter Lawrence has landed a fulltime ride in the MX2 World Championship after signing with Team Suzuki World MX2 for the 2017-2018 seasons.

Lawrence, 16, starred in his rookie European championship campaign this year with a victory in the German EMX250 round, however a knee injury cut his season short.

Team Suzuki World MX2, led by 10-time world champion Stefan Everts, has overnight announced its signing of Lawrence in MX2 alongside Jeremy Seewer and Bas Vaessen. The brand’s also signed younger brother Jett Lawrence to a European deal.

“For Jet and I it’s quite something to have stood out enough for Harry and Stefan,” Hunter said. “We’re talking 15 world titles between them, so there is quite something to be learned there. My knee is coming along well and I’m cycling and exercising.

“I think I might be on the bike in mid-September and it will be great to start working with the team and get a good feeling with the RM-Z250 then. It will be a crazy-long season next year and I don’t have any expectations – I know how important it is to try to keep healthy and make it all the way through.”

Team Suzuki general manager Everts said: “After Jeremy and Bas, we are very honoured to sign Hunter Lawrence. We had a great opportunity to work together and thinking about the future and what I have seen of Hunter so far, he will fit in perfectly to our programme.

“After one or two years I feel that he can be a really strong contender in the world championship. He was really strong in his first races in the European championship and he adapted very fast to Euro tracks. So I’m very pleased to have this kid on board and also his brother [Jett].

“We have changed quite a lot with how we are working with the riders and it has already started to pay off in some respects and results. For the Lawrence family I think it was important the trust and resources we could provide and they are really happy to come on board. I hope this is the next step for us in building up the whole Team Suzuki structure.”

While Hunter Lawrence will transition into the world championship fulltime, younger brother Jet Lawrence will follow him from Kawasaki’s development program across to Team Suzuki in the European championship alongside Zach Pichon, the son of former double 250cc World Champion on the RM250, Mickael Pichon.