Jamie McCanney has confirmed that he will contest the 2021 FIM Enduro World Championship for an Italian team this year.

Having recently ended his five-year link with Yamaha, this week’s news also draws a line under his brief delve into Rallye Raid, notably the Dakar Rally.

He is to ride for the Jolly Racing Zanardo Enduro team, based at Piacenza, 70km south-east of Milan.

The 26-year-old Manxman will ride a Husqvarna TE300i in the E3 class for the 2021 season in both the Italian Enduro Championship and EnduroGPs.

’Excited to be back between the tapes after two years away from the Enduro World Championship! It’s going to be a new challenge with the same goal,’ said Jamie on Tuesday.

’Big thank you to @jolly_enduro_team for this opportunity so late on in the year, pushing the boundaries to give me the support needed to be competitive.’

Jolly Racing is described as an amateur sports team, motorcycle repair centre and motor vehicle company.

JET Racing has been extremely successful over the years, racking up no fewer than 20 world championships and 63 Italian national titles.

Jamie has ridden Husqvarnas at world level in the past and this move means that he will be back in the same competition and class as his elder brother, Daniel McCanney, who is riding for the French Sherco team.

The latter finished third in the E3 class last year with a Honda team, also based in Italy.

Jed Etchells, who finished runner-up in the 125cc Youth Cup class of EnduroGP last year, will again be riding for Fantic Motor in the same class.

’It was a tough decision to pack in the desert racing, but it is too dangerous. A bit like the TT,’ said Jamie.

’One mistake at 100mph in the desert and you can be in big trouble.

’I was disappointed not to finish the Dakar Rally this year, but it may have been a blessing in disguise. You never know what is round the next corner.

’I had just started pushing in Saudi when the bike hit problems, but you need ba**s of steel to break into the top 10 in that. I wasn’t there to finish 10th to 15th, but no amount of money is worth that level of risk.’

Leading contender Toby Price crashed out on stage nine, injuring his shoulder and arm, while Frenchman Pierre Cherpin died five days after crashing on stage seven. Another rider, C. S. Santosh of India, was in an induced coma for some time after crashing.

Last year, leading Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves died and Jamie was first on the scene of another serious incident involving an American.