James Toseland

Born in 1980 in Doncaster, Britain’s James Toseland is one of only two men, together with Troy Corser, to have won the Superbike World Championship for two different manufacturers, Ducati and Honda.

In his early days, James competed in junior trials and motocross events all over the UK, but then switched to road racing in the 1990s, working his way up through the ranks to 125cc and the Honda CB500 Cup series aged 17.

He signed for the factory Castrol Honda World Supersport squad where he rode for two years, but his big break came when he joined the British Superbike Championship series in 2000.

The following year, aged 20, Toseland joined the GSE team to partner Neil Hodgson in the Superbike World Championship. At first, he was not as competitive as Hodgson, but by late 2002, he was challenging for top 5 results and took seventh overall that year. In 2003, the team was more competitive than ever, with Toseland taking his first win at Oschersleben and finishing third overall in the championship.

In 2004 after both Hodgson and Xaus left the championship to race in MotoGP, Toseland joined the factory Fila Ducati team as second rider to the experienced Regis Laconi, on the dominant 999 F04 bike. 

Toseland put together consistent results to stay with the Frenchman all the way, and in the deciding races at Magny-Cours the British youngster out-rode Laconi, clinching the title by nine points. A total of 336 points included 3 wins and 11 other podium finishes. At the age of 23 years and 11 months, he became the youngest SBK World Champion, a record that still stands today.

The 2005 season proved to be more of a struggle for Toseland against the other returning manufacturer teams and he only finished fourth overall.

That was his final year on Ducati machinery, as he then switched to Honda, with whom he won his second WorldSBK title in 2007, and he competed for two years in MotoGP before retiring from the sport in 2011 due to a wrist injury.

Aside from racing, Toseland is a talented pianist and singer-songwriter, performing all over the world with the eponymous rock band Toseland, and was married to global singing superstar Katie Melua for eight years.