Ducati ends 22-year link with World Championship
Friday 27 August 2010
Printable
EmailMoto GP: Ducati has pulled out of the 2011 Superbike World Championship, bringing an end to the Italian manufacturer's 22-year association with the series.
A staunch supporter of the championship since it was first run in 1988, Ducati will instead direct its racing operations to the MotoGP World Championship after signing Italian rider Valentino Rossi from Yamaha.
The company will still supply machines to privateer teams and officially concentrate its efforts on developing road-going motorcycles.
But the effort it will direct towards having Rossi, an Italian, on an Italian machine will have made its attempts to win the superbike world title pale into insignificance.
Having won 13 riders' world titles, including four for Britain's Carl Fogarty and 16 manufacturers' crowns, Ducati has decided to turn its back on a series it at one time backed while various of the four Japanese manufacturers shunned it.
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