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Alstare: a new beginning

Tuesday, 4 December 2012 14:30 GMT
Alstare: a new beginning

The history of Francis Batta and his Alstare organisation is a thread that has been interwoven through the fabric of the Superbike World Championship series for most of its long life, but last year the Alstare squad was missing from the entry list - and missed by all. Now back with their old original partners in Ducati, Alstare is the team that has taken over the role as lead Ducati squad in a whole new era of SBK racing, with the Panigale 1199 being developed into a full spec SBK machine as we speak.


WorldSBK.com spoke to Batta at the final test of the 2012 season, to find out more about the return of a team that has produced champions and wins with regularity for over 20 years. When asked about what his return to top level SBK racing meant to him, Batta stated, "I feel that my life is the motorcycle and for six months at home with nothing happening... this was for me very difficult, psychologically."


Batta explained how the new co-operation with the Ducati factory in Bologna will work in 2013. "The machines and so on will be in our workshops in Belgium. The job is very similar to the one we did before for Suzuki. The development will be in Ducati but the team will be located in Belgium. After the races the bikes and so on will go back to Belgium. We have eight people working all day in Alstare in the workshops. We still have the dynos, flow bench, etc. all working at a high level."


Batta began his WSS and SBK involvement working alongside Ducati, and it is appropriate in many ways that he makes his return to the SBK paddock with his team running big red vee-twins.