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There has been a recent trend of riders joining the FIM Supersport World Championship after competing in Moto2™ and Lorenzo Baldassarri is the latest to make that journey as he links up with the Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team for 2022. The Italian makes the move into WorldSSP after eight seasons in Moto2™ with five wins to his name in that period.

Baldassarri’s first taste of WorldSSP action came in a test at November with the MV Agusta squad before being announced with Evan Bros. Yamaha for this season, as he looks to replicate the success of Andrea Locatelli (now Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) when he made the switch to WorldSSP and Evan Bros. Yamaha in 2020.

Three of the last four WorldSSP Champions have been riders who have switched from Moto2™ including Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) in 2021, Locatelli in 2020 and Sandro Cortese in 2018. Baldassarri was asked about whether this record would lead to pressure on him. He said: “I think I will go with the Championship as the main focus, 100%. I know how strong I am. Also, last year was very tough for me, but now I’m recharging my battery. The battery is at 100% and I’m ready to fight for the important positions. I think I will do great with the team because they are supporting me very well. I’m training up. I will be ready to fight to win. The main target is to be fast at the beginning, fighting for the lead, I should be the fastest from Yamaha. Domi was very fast last year, did great. That’s the important thing. We will see how the new rules and how the Championship is going.”

Baldassarri also joins a team that have won two of the last three titles, back-to-back in 2019 and 2020 with Randy Krummenacher and Locatelli respectively, with Baldassarri hoping to add his name to the list of Evan Bros. Yamaha Champions. The team also claimed second place in 2021 with Steven Odendaal, showing how successful they have been in recent years.

Discussing his thoughts on joining Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team, Baldassarri said: “We started to work at Jerez. I think there is a lot of passion in what they do, and this is important because we share this passion; we push all the time. We will push hard every race, every practice session. It’s like when you go to work, if you do the work and get up every morning with passion, you want to do that for sure, you will always give 100%.”

Baldassarri joins the Championship in the same year as a new ruleset which has brought Ducati and Triumph back to the Championship, while MV Agusta will use a new bike in the 2022 season. Explaining his thoughts on joining WorldSSP now, Baldassarri said: “For me, 2022 will be a new challenge coming from Moto2™. It will be an interesting season with the Evan Bros. team and Yamaha. I think it will be a great collaboration. Also, for the Championship, it will be interesting because there are some new riders from Moto2™ and also the new rules. It’s like a new category. It will be interesting, I think.”

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