"SBK in the wrong direction, Ducati has a MotoGP engine"

Massimo Rivola hypothesizes a return to SBK but only if the rules change. "The championship goes in the wrong direction. Ducati has a MotoGP engine".

Aprilia left the SBK World Championship at the end of 2018 after three pilots, two with Max Biaggi and one with Eugene Laverty. From 2019 the house of Noale has decided to focus on MotoGP, leaving Ducati the only Italian manufacturer among the series derivatives. In 2019 the home of Borgo Panigale adopted a V4 engine with great success, touching the world title in the last championship with Alvaro Bautista.

For Aprilia, a Superbike return is currently out of the question. "It depends on how the regulations are developing, we stopped the RSV4 project with 1,000 cc and now we rely on the 1,100 engine"Said Massimo Rivola to" Motorsport-Total.com ". According to the former Formula 1 technical director, the SBK championship is not on the right track. "The Superbike world championship should be production oriented, so if we have a 1,100 engine we should go with it. But I'm not sure it would be competitive, because the speed of the 1,100 engine is lower than that of the 1,000 engine".

According to Massimo Rivola the Ducati "cousins" use a disproportionate engine for the standard derivatives. "The Ducati runs at 16.500 rpm, this is a MotoGP engine. Our engine runs at 13,000 rpm, so we wouldn't be competitive, but we certainly have good potential. If the rules allow it, we will think about the return". But changes to the current format would be needed: "The Superbike world championship is presented as an alternative to MotoGP. In my opinion a Superbike should be a Superstock car that carries only the Superbike name, because it sounds good, the Superstock championship was nevertheless buried".

Furthermore the manager would prefer longer races. "They should be long distance races, where spectators see the reliability of motorcycles. For the sprint races we have the MotoGP, which is the premier class. If we have motorcycles close to production that run at 16,500 rpm and the engine needs to be changed every 1,500 kilometers … Don't sell many of these bikes, maybe 100 for professional drivers or rich people. therefore – concluded Rivola – I think it's going in the wrong direction".