WSBK: Ducati Xerox Team kicks-starts 2006 campaign at Losail
2-23-2006
by
Flagworld
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LANZI LOOKING FOR GLORY The other rider in the Ducati Xerox Team will be Lorenzo Lanzi, the 24-year-old Italian from the province of Cesena. Lanzi has had a meteoric rise to fame, becoming a World Superbike winner in his rookie season. Three years in 125 and 250 from 1999 to 2001 were followed by Lorenzo's first experience with four-stroke machines and Ducati in the 2003 European Superstock championship, in which he was runner-up riding a 999S. He then finished fifth in the 2004 World Supersport championship with the Breil-sponsored factory Ducati 749R and was promoted to Superbike the following year with the satellite Ducati SC Caracchi team on a customer 999RS bike. As replacement for the injured Régis Laconi, Lanzi then stepped onto the factory 999F05 machine in the Ducati Xerox Team, and scored a sensational win at the Eurospeedway at his first attempt, winning again in the last round of the championship in Magny-Cours. The decision to move Lorenzo Lanzi into Ducati's factory WSBK team is just reward for one of Italy's most promising new talents.
"I am really proud to be a part of the Ducati Xerox Team that will take part in the World Superbike Championship, because it was an aim that I had made for myself when I was racing in Superstock in 2003" declared Lanzi. "Now that moment has arrived I am so happy because it is the dream of so many Italian riders to race a factory Ducati. The team that is around me is fantastic, the mechanics and all the engineers, and there is a great feeling. We have everything we need to be competitive and, in fact, after the recent tests I am already up there amongst the top riders. Being in the factory team doesn't bother me one bit, I think I have already demonstrated at Lausitz that pressure isn't a problem. I know there is a lot of work still to do but we are working well and that's positive".
SIGHTS SET ON VICTORY Ducati Corse director Paolo Ciabatti has been in charge of the Italian manufacturer's Superbike programme for several years now, and as a result is no stranger to winning titles. This year he is looking forward to renewing battle against a stellar line-up of bikes, riders and teams in the rapidly-growing Superbike championship.
"It is natural for the Ducati Xerox Team to start the 2006 championship with our sights set on victory" declared Ciabatti, "because the last few races of last year in particular showed that the 999 is definitely a winning machine. We are certainly not underestimating the challenge of the 2006 championship because as we saw last year, World Superbike is now more competitive and popular than ever before and the arrival of top riders from other categories and a complete line-up of our traditional manufacturing rivals means that the competition is going to be difficult again this year".
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