Ducati considering ex-MotoGP rider Petrucci for 2023 WSBK season

Petrucci was planning to contest a full season in cross-country rallying this year with his former MotoGP employer KTM, but his campaign was cut short after the Dakar Rally in January despite the Italian rider picking up a stage win as a rookie aboard one of its factory bikes.

This opened up the door for Petrucci to reunite with Ducati and join MotoAmerica, where he is currently leading the championship by 13 points over Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz after the opening four rounds of the 10-round championship.

Ducati MotoGP chief Gigi Dall'Igna stressed that winning the title in MotoAmerica with Petrucci remains their primary goal as of now, but he will evaluate WSBK as the next step in the Italian’s career for the 2023 season.

While Alvaro Bautista is expected to stay at Ducati’s factory WSBK team next year as its de facto leader, the future of his teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi is less secure following a underwhelming start to his second season with the outfit.

"For us, Danilo is an important driver, America is an important championship and we are working to give him the best possible support in this championship too,” said Dall'Igna, who was present at the Misano WSBK round last weekend.

“Our objective and his is to win this championship. Once we have done that, we will surely think about the future and it is true that one of the options is to make him do the World Superbike Championship, but I would say that it is still early to talk about it.”

Danilo Petrucci, Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC

Photo by: Brian J. Nelson

Petrucci has been rumoured to make a wildcard WSBK outing with Ducati at Portimao on October 7-9, a few weeks after the final round of the MotoAmerica season in late September, to prepare for a potential full