VOLUME ISSUE AUGUST , P93
CHAMPIONSHIP,
T
he Warhorse HSBK
team needs friends
in high places to
make the wheels spin, and
nothing ever gets the green
light in terms of Ducati's in-
ternational racing programs
unless it comes from Paolo
Ciabatti. We caught up with
him briefly to discuss the
MotoAmerica program.
This Warhorse HSBK
Racing Ducati NYC program
has been a slow but steady
building process for a few
years; how has it been from
Ducati's point of view?
Kyle [Wyman] actually
started the program as a
privateer and we tried to
support him, technically. It
was basically started with
two production V4 R's, and
it was more of a Super-
stock class kind of bike.
We did a good job, but then
it was the end of 2020.
Actually, Eldorado Fer-
racci approached me about
the possibility of Ducati
New York and waiting to do
something. So, we man-
aged to send one of our
development superbikes to
the States and did the last
two rounds with Lorenzo
Zanetti, who was our test
rider. He was always on
the podium, winning in
Indianapolis.
So then one year later,
the following year, they
[Warhorse HSBK Racing
Ducati NYC] decided to con-
tinue. It was like a kind of
test event to see how they
felt the bike could do in the
US, and then they contract-
ed Loris [Baz]. Last year
was Danilo [Petrucci] and
this year is Josh [Herrin].
In the meantime, last
year we started a very
successful program in
Supersport, with the
Panigale V2, because of
the new generation of rules
in WorldSSP and also here.
And this year we are very,
very happy. The team has
grown also in terms of staff
and technical competence,
which is good. World
Supersport so far has
been the perfect season,
and we won Daytona 200
with Josh which was very
important.
The Superbike we had
here this year is a '23 fac-
tory superbike. The team
required two bikes from us,
and we built them to the
WorldSBK spec with the
small differences that we
need for MotoAmerica. So,
we're happy. The team is
doing good. I think Bobby
[Shek, team manager] and
Paolo Ciabatti is more
than happy with how the
Ducati MotoAmerica
program is developing.
THE MAN AT
THE TOP
