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| Photo from ItalianWheels.net. |
On Wednesday, June 10, a press release announced that Italian rider Niccolo Canepa has returned to Althea Racing. Canepa was chosen to take over the seat vacated by Nico Terol, the Spanish rider who exited the team after seven rounds of disappointing performance. Canepa will be joining Althea for the remainder of the 2015 World Superbike Championship, and will be riding the Ducati Panigale R.
Canepa’s revived relationship with Althea marks his third team of the season: he began with the now-defunct Erik Buell Racing manufacturer aboard their EBR1190RX, then switched to the Grillini Kawasaki outfit on their Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R for the two most recent rounds.
The team has expressed excitement over Canepa’s return, referencing the significant success he had riding with Althea in 2014. Team owner Genesio Bevilacqua stated that Canepa’s “motivation, athletic freshness, and great experience can surely make the difference.” He went on to say that, although there is less than half of the championship left to run, Team Althea wants to do their very best “and make the most of the great potential that the Ducati Panigale R has already show in the field.”
“I’m very pleased to return to the great family that is Althea,” Canepa said in the press release. “After last year’s fantastic season in which we finished second in the EVO world championship, being able to get back on Team Althea’s Ducati and return to my team gives me great motivation. The bike has improved a lot from that of last year and so I’m sure that after some laps to get back into things I’ll be able to be competitive right away. I thank Genesio for giving me this opportunity and I’m sure that he and the fans will not be disappointed. I’ll see you at Misano.”
