Axel Bassani at the Motocorsa Ducati on October 19, 2020 after the season finale in Estoril. Instead of Leandro Mercado, the young Italian will compete for the team from his home country (© WorldSBK).

Axel Bassani with Motocorsa Ducati confirmed

Another team confirms that they will remain in WorldSBK with Axel Bassani as driver. The Motocorsa Racing Team from Lurago d’Erba in the north of Monza had little success with the Argentinian Leandro Mercado last year. More than 16th place in the World Championship was not possible in the end. But BMW driver Tom Sykes is not entirely innocent of this. Ousted by Chaz Davies in the Superpole Race in Aragon, the Englishman recklessly bumped Leandro Mercado off his Ducati on his return to the track. The Argentine fell badly, injured himself and was then missing for two laps.

Without regard to losses, Tom Sykes (BMW) returned to the track from the left, where Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Ducati) rushed up from behind. The unfortunate South American could not avoid the Englishman and suffered serious injuries in his crash, which cost him a good quarter of the shortened season (© WorldSBK).

Axel Bassani on his promotion from the WSSP 600

“I am very happy to begin this adventure, this challenge with the Motocorsa team Lorenzo Mauri and his colleague Roberto Terenghi. Thank you very much for the great opportunity and trust you are giving me. I can’t wait to work with the team and grow as a driver and as a man over the course of the season. At the end of last year we were only able to do a few laps in Estoril due to adverse weather conditions. I was able to see the high level of professionalism of this team and its level of competence and immediately got along very well with all the guys. “

Axel Bassani on the Motocorsa Ducati – hopefully a happier combination than last season with the unfortunate Mercado. Bassani achieved two top ten results as seventeenth place in the Supersport 600 World Championship last year (© WorldSBK).

Bassani continues: “It will not be an easy season and there will be many challenges. I would especially like to thank my family for always being by my side, my entire work team, which always does the impossible to enable me to always give 100%, and without whose support we would not be here today. Last but not least, I have to thank all sponsors, the historical sponsors who have been with us for a long time, and all new partners for their fundamental support Working together we were able to achieve one of our most coveted goals: WorldSBK. “

Loris Baz (Ten Kate Yamaha) – photographed by us after his podium in the 1st race of Misano 2019. The Frenchman still has no definite confirmation as to whether he will even have a place in WorldSBK for the coming season.

The starting grid for the 2021 season has been almost completed

While Markus Reiterberger only has one contract for the Endurance World Championship with the BMW Team for the coming season, Baz and Cortese are currently still unsure whether they will continue in WorldSBK in 2021. We had already warned last autumn that the Covid 19 pandemic would also cause future problems in racing. Unfortunately we should be right with that and with the Dutch Benro Racing Team there was already a first victim in the WSSP 600. Also for Ten Kate in the WorldSBK and the Finnish Kallio Racing Team the chances of being able to finance a complete season are apparently bad .

How the tests continue

Jerez test: 20th – 21st January (postponed 1 week)
Jerez test: 27th – 28st January
Portimao test: 4th – 5th March
Jerez test: 9th – 10th March (Honda only)
Misano test: 15th – 16th March
Estoril test: 24th – 25th March
Barcelona test: March 31st – 1st April
MotorLand Aragon test: April 12th – 13th

Alex Lowes (left) and World Champion Jonathan Rea with their new weapons for the coming season, the brand new model of the Kawasaki ZX-10RR from 2021 and the message for the fans when the tests will continue (© Kawasaki Racing Team).

Provisional calendar for 2021