Image: Simon Cudby.

Australia’s Dean Ferris has detailed his official return to the MXGP World Championship this weekend as part of the Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Racing Team, replacing injured South African Tyla Rattray in the factory team.

Ferris was named Rattray’s shock replacement aboard the FC 350 late last month beginning at Uddevalla in Sweden, then completing the European leg of the season in Finland, the Czech Republic and Belgium.

The Swedish event marks Ferris’ return from a wrist injury that was sustained while riding outdoors in Australia, which sidelined him from the American Supercross series in March. Now, his comeback will surprisingly take place on the world stage rather than in the US.

“Roger [De Coster] just approached me last minute with the opportunity to come back,” Ferris told MXGP.com. “I was ready to start racing in America and finish off the last rounds of the AMA outdoors, but then Roger just asked me if I wanted to do come back here.

“For me it was a no brainer, it was 100 percent the best decision because I want to come back and ride here next year on a good team and with a good bike and I think it’s possible to get good results, so yeah like I said, it’s a no brainer.

“When they asked me, I was straight up and I told them my ambition was to come back here and I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity. My goal has always been to be world champion and it has never changed.

“You know when I left I was caught between a rock and a hard place, so I kinda just leapt at the opportunity to ride for a good team and on a good bike, even though it meant going to America. I thought I would have done better in supercross, but I didn’t. That probably was the biggest thing to influence me to return to Europe and focus on MXGP.”

But the Husqvarna deal doesn’t completely signify the end of Ferris’ tenure with Red Bull KTM in the US, as he’s scheduled to complete the final three rounds of 250MX in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at Unadilla, Indiana and Utah.

“I am going back to America to do the last three rounds for KTM, that’s the deal,” he added. “I think the team made it clear that I am only here for these four rounds of MXGP, I guess unless Tyla and Todd [Waters] aren’t back then things may change.”

Ferris’ seamless switch between the KTM and Husqvarna brands comes following the Austrian marque’s purchase of Husqvarna ahead of the 2014 model year.