EXCITING CONTENT always been part of our DNA ,” said Ducati Corse Sporting Director Paolo Ciabatti . “ The Company ’ s commitment is aimed at making Ducati ever more technological , high-performance , fun and safe , and racing and WorldSBK play a very important role in this . The Panigale V4 R is a shining example of this philosophy .” WorldSBK , as we have alluded to above , is a special championship for Ducati , which is one important reason it is still in there . “ Ducati built its strong racing image mainly thanks to its successful participation in WorldSBK . We were protagonists of the championship since the beginning and still regard it as the most important and competitive series for production-based motorcycles .” Unless you have woken up from a sleep of over 20 years , you will know that Ducati is all-in over in the MotoGP paddock too . With that being the bigger , even more pure race oriented category , what does WorldSBK give that MotoGP cannot ? “ MotoGP is a series for prototype motorcycles , while in WorldSBK we can showcase the quality and performances of our top-of-the-line production sport models , that are a very important part of the entire Ducati model range ,” said Ciabatti in response .
The electronics Ducati runs in WorldSBK are as free as anybody else ’ s , relatively speaking , but for Ciabatti , this freedom of electronic expression is another key thing WorldSBK gives his engineers . “ Ducati has always been very proud of the high competence of its electronic engineers and being able to still develop hardware and software in WorldSBK gives us the possibility to implement various interesting strategies on our Panigale V4 R ,” he said . Is the aim always for more paying privateer teams , for a company like Ducati ? “ We currently have three independent riders / teams competing in the championship and , while we always welcome new entries in the Ducati racing family , we are already satisfied with the situation .” The entire WorldSBK paddock walked a little taller , breathed a little deeper when Honda , in the form of an official HRC direct official team , arrived back in WorldSBK after a long hiatus . We asked Tetsuhiro Kuwata , HRC Director , a few questions about what WorldSBK means to Honda nowadays . How significant a decision was it to return to WorldSBK after many years without a full HRC team - and then with a new bike in 2020 ? “ It was definitely significant and also carefully planned , as is every decision
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