James Toseland will return to World Superbikes after losing his MotoGP ride with the Yamaha Tech 3 team for next season to American Ben Spies.

The Ramsey resident will take Spies' place in World Superbikes, a class in which he was twice world champion before stepping up to MotoGP last year.

Toseland has struggled for two seasons and is currently 13th in the standings.

Tech 3 boss Herve Poncharal said: "I would like to thank James. It has been a privilege working with him."

In his two years in MotoGP, Toseland, who turns 29 on Monday, has never managed to finish a race higher than sixth.

He admitted he was disappointed at leaving the elite class but was looking forward to showing he was still a world-class rider and was happy to stick with Yamaha.

"I want to show I'm still the rider that can win world titles," he said.

"I know many of the Yamaha World Superbike Team guys, so I'm going to pick up where I left off and give 100% to achieving good results with the team."