NEW TEAM, SAME MANUFACTURER: Rinaldi signs for Motocorsa Racing for 2024
Rinaldi secures his WorldSBK future by signing for the Independent Ducati outfit as he remains on the Panigale V4 R for next season
After a lot of speculation about his future, Michael Ruben Rinaldi now knows who he’ll be racing for in the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. The Italian will make the move from the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad to Independent outfit Motocorsa Racing as the team opt for the five-time race winner. It means the #21 will continue his association with Ducati despite leaving the factory team as he replaces Kawasaki-bound Axel Bassani.
MOVING TEAMS, SAME MANUFACTURER: Rinaldi opts for ‘same but different’
Rinaldi has exclusively spent his WorldSBK career with Ducati machinery. In 2018, he was with the Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team and finished 14th in the Championship, taking a best finish of sixth at Brno. The following year, he was with the Barni Ducati outfit and finished one place higher in the standings before his breakthrough season in 2020. A new team beckoned, this time Team GoEleven, and he claimed his first win and podiums at MotorLand Aragon.
This helped him earn a factory seat at Aruba.it Racing – Ducati, first alongside Scott Redding and then Alvaro Bautista. Between 2021 and 2023, he claimed four wins and 20 podiums for the team as well as helping them to win the Teams’ Championship in 2022 and 2023, and the Manufacturers’ Championship in the same years. For his seventh season in WorldSBK, Rinaldi will stay on the Panigale V4 R but with Motocorsa Racing as he looks to help the team continue their success.
A ROLLERCOASTER 2023: rapid pace mixed with misfortune
While Rinaldi has shown incredible speed throughout 2023, with nine podiums to his name – more than any other season – there’s also been some misfortune too. A technical issue at Assen on Friday hampered him all weekend, while he also crashed out of podium contention on home soil at Misano, plus had three separate opening lap incidents at Donington Park. However, with his rostrums and race win – the only rider outside the Titanic Trio to win this year – his speed was displayed on multiple occasions, and he’ll have a chance to show this against next year on the Independent Panigale V4 R.
STK1000 CHAMPION AND MORE: Rinaldi’s pre-WorldSBK success
The 27-year-old spent two seasons each in STK600 and STK1000 before joining the WorldSBK grid. Second in 2015 in STK600, finishing behind Toprak Razgatlioglu, with the pair both running Kawasaki machinery, earnt them a seat in STK1000. In 2016, the Italian was sixth before his rivalry with Razgatlioglu reignited as they fought for the title. This time, the Rimini-born star came out on top to secure the crown ahead of the 2021 WorldSBK Champion.
IN RINALDI’S OWN WORDS: “A new team, new people and one great goal... this is why Motocorsa is the right choice”
Looking ahead to his new challenge, Rinaldi said: “2024 starts today! A new team, new people and one great goal... this is why Motocorsa is the right choice. It would be complex and undoubtedly reductive to explain in so few lines all the reasons why Motocorsa and I chose each other and together decided to undertake this great challenge for the 2024 season. I would therefore like to use just two words: PASSION and AMBITION. Key words that were, from the first meeting with Lorenzo Mauri, the essence of a clear message that he wanted to convey to me, wanting me to be at the centre of a solid and competitive project to stay and aim, with a free mind, even higher. A vision that matches perfectly with what I am looking for... a team that has the same passion as me for this sport, the ambition, the desire, and the spirit of sacrifice that are needed to achieve great results. For this reason, I am very happy, and I can't wait to start working with the team to create an excellent base on a technical level and a positive environment within the garage that can be productive and stimulating. I want to thank Lorenzo Mauri and Team Motocorsa, Vittorino Mesaroli and Mesaroli Spa, Ducati and all the sponsors who made this project possible.”
2024 starts now! Catch up on the latest news and interviews from the two-day Jerez test on Tuesday and Wednesday using the WorldSBK VideoPass!
