BOLOGNA, Italy – The Aruba.it Racing Ducati Factory Team has announced that Italian rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi will join Scott Redding as a teammate for the 2021 World Superbike season, aboard the Ducati Panigale V4 R.
Rinaldi replaces Chaz Davies as a Ducati factory team rider for the upcoming year.
“It’s with great enthusiasm that we welcome Michael to our team. It is a source of great satisfaction for us, as well as a confirmation of the goodness of the project we undertook five years ago with the junior team,” said team principal Stefano Cecconi. “Rinaldi himself was one of the great protagonists, achieving important results, the same results we expect him to achieve from next season on. A big thank to Chaz Davies for all the years we have spent together since we decided – together with Aruba.it – to embark on this fascinating adventure and during which a bond of deep respect and trust was created. The affection for the man and the rider will always remain intact, and for this reason, we want to wish Chaz the best for the future, both inside and outside the track.”
Rinaldi started racing with the minimoto when he was seven years old, winning the Italian championship in 2006. After winning the Italian Sport Production Championship in 2011, in 2014 he faced his first international experience in the European Superstock 600 championship, where he was the runner-up in 2015.
In 2016, Rinaldi rode the Ducati Panigale R of the Aruba.it Racing junior team in the SuperStock 1000 FIM championship, finishing sixth before earning the European Champion title at the end of the following season.
With the Aruba.it Racing junior team, Rinaldi also made his WorldSBK debut in the 2018 season, racing only in European rounds and then competing in all events of the 2019 season with the Barni Racing Team.
This year, Rinaldi obtained his first success in WorldSBK with the Panigale V4 R of the Go Eleven team in race one at Aragon, a round that saw him finish on the podium in the Superpole Race and race two as well.
“After an exciting journey in Ducati, joining the official team is an honour for me, as well as confirmation of the quality of the work done over the years. My first target will be to repay, through the results, the trust that has been given to me,” said Rinaldi. “For an Italian rider, racing with Ducati is an extraordinary feeling, and I am sure that the passion of the Ducati people will give me an extra boost. I would like to thank Stefano Cecconi and the Aruba family who have always believed in me, and Daniele Casolari, Serafino Foti and the whole Feel Racing for supporting me over the years. A special thought to Claudio Domenicali, Gigi Dall’ Igna and Paolo Ciabatti for having involved me in this new project. Finally, I would like to involve the Ramello family, Denis Sacchetti and all the guys in the Go Eleven team in an ideal embrace. Thanks to them, I was able to make an important quality leap that allowed me to reach this great goal. And of course, I would like to thank my family for having supported me from the beginning together with Germano Bertuzzi whose support has been fundamental.
“I feel I can promise them all my utmost commitment to achieving great results together.”