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Luca Scassa has a different-looking job for the 2015 WorldSBK season, adopting more of a management role within the Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team. Now witnessing proceedings from both sides of the fence, the Italian rider believes the marque can win from the start of the season at Phillip Island next weekend.

“It’s a long story...I don’t think we have enough time!” Scassa joked when asked by WorldSBK.com how he took on his new role. “We have been working on this project with Aruba for a few months and finally this project with Aruba Racing is born. It’s quite a strange feeling for me because I have one foot on the riders’ side and another on the management side. It’s interesting to see things from the other point of view.”

With technical changes imposed for the 2015 campaign, not least in the engine and electronics departments, Scassa is confident that Ducati can reap the rewards and take what would be the first victory since the Panigale model debuted at the start of 2013.

“I think Ducati is the one which has lost less,” he admits. “Other brands like Kawasaki and maybe Aprilia have lost more speed, especially on the engine side. Ducati has stayed on the same level, more or less; we have changed a few things but it’s quite fast. The Ducati is still as fast as last year but everybody else is going a bit slower. It looks easier for the riders (Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies); they have more confidence, the bike is a good development and the people inside the garage are amazing.

“Everybody is here to win at Phillip Island! They (Ducati) want to do it too and they will be able to do it.”

Scassa added that he may be able to put in some wildcard appearances later in the season, providing he is able to achieve ‘good results’. This may depend on his ongoing recovery, although he reports good progress. A titanium screw is set to be removed from his ankle later this year, in either June or July; this will be scheduled around the rider’s testing commitments with Ducati.