One of the key stories heading into the second half of the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign is who will partner Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) at the factory Ducati team in 2024. Michael Ruben Rinaldi is the incumbent on the Panigale V4 R, but several riders have their sights set on joining the reigning World Champion next season. During Free Practice 1, Team Manager Serafino provided a brief update on when the decision on Bautista’s teammate will be made.

Rinaldi joined the team for the 2021 season on the back of a race-winning campaign with Team GoEleven and he won races in that season, including at Misano in front of his home fans. Despite his race wins, he finished fifth in the standings. He improved his Championship position in 2022 but didn’t win a race while 2023 has been a mixture of rapid pace, misfortune and mistakes meaning the Italian hasn’t scored as many podiums as he could have.

He faces pressure to secure the seat for 2024 from various riders who are all eyeing up a place alongside Spanish rider Bautista. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) has made no secret of his desire to race in WorldSBK, with the WorldSSP Championship leader saying he “hopes to move to WorldSBK” if he wins the title. Foti namechecked Bulega while speaking during Free Practice 1 but admitted there were “other options”, with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) also revealing they would like a factory seat.

When asked about the second factory seat, Foti said: “Bulega could be an option, but we have other options on the table. We’re not in a rush. We would like to understand what the best compromise for our team is. I think we will make a decision at the end of July or beginning of August.”

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Source: WorldSBK.com