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Having just lost his long-time lead of the World Superbike Championship at the most recent round in Germany, Noriyuki Haga is out to catch up on new leader Ben Spies at the Imola race. The pressure on the Japanese superstar of Superbike is double at this particular round, as it is not only a return for Ducati to its home track of Imola, but this is the last of three Italian rounds on the WSB calendar. No one in WSB has written Haga off despite his recent bad luck, as so many times in his long WSB career he has delivered on racedays when the pressure has been at its most intense. He has never won a race at Imola, but in many ways he will never have as good a chance to win as he will have this year.

Said Haga in the run-up to this race, "We came away from Nürburgring disappointed, because we know we should have, and could have, taken at least one race win. Now I am in second place in the championship, which means that at Imola it is even more important to finish first. There are 50 points on offer at Imola and the gap between Ben and I is only eighteen... It is of course Ducati's home track and we haven't been here for a few years, so, as well as needing the points for the championship, it would be great to do well in front of all the Ducatisti."