Ducati quits World Superbike

Ducati is quitting the racing series it helped popularize and that came to define its corporate success. This morning, Ducati announced it would no longer field a factory team in SBK, instead concentrating on MotoGP. Reading between the lines, it’s easy to jump to the much-rumored conclusion that the money Ducati had been putting towards seeing its 1198 lose to the Aprilia RSV4 will now go towards Valentino Rossi’s retirement fund. The move also marks a radical change for the company’s marketing strategy, purchasing a Ducati superbike will no longer be a case of purchasing a race-winning motorcycle, but instead one that’ll allegedly include trickle down technology from MotoGP. Does this mean future Ducati flagships will look more like the Desmosedici than they will a living, breathing set of SBK homologation rules? What does that mean for v-twins?

Update: SBK has issued an official statement, essentially calling out Ducati for lying about its reason for quitting the series, it’s below.

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