Ducati test rider Niccolo Canepa, seen here with his former Alice team at the Valencia test, has shifted over to the Onde 2000 team and will race alongside Sete Gibernau.
The MotoGP plot continues to twist and turn during the winter testing moratorium. First, rumor has it that
Kawasaki is pulling out. Now it appears the Alice Ducati team is the next victim. Spanish publication
AS reported that Italian telecommunications giant, Alice, is pulling its sponsorship of the satellite Pramac team. Pramac had already enlisted the services of two talented riders, 250cc racer Mika Kallio and Ducati tester Niccolo Canepa, for 2009. With the loss of Alice’s sponsorship, the team can only afford to run one rider this year and have opted to keep Kallio.
Canepa will jump over to the Onde 2000 team, joining MotoGP veteran Sete Gibernau. The Onde 2000 team was apparently already considering running a second bike, so when the opportunity presented itself, they didn’t hesitate to grab Canepa. The Onde 2000 team is backed by a large Spanish property development company, Grupo Francisco Hernando.
Canepa is a Ducati test rider who has helped develop both the MotoGP and World Superbike platforms. He boosted his stock and earned a full-time position with Ducati after posting the fastest laps in the Indianapolis tire tests at the end of last summer.
Ducati keeping its contingent of riders at five is huge. If not, the number of racers scheduled to compete in this year’s MotoGP is in jeopardy of falling below the minimum number of riders required by FIM and puts the entire 2009 MotoGP season at risk.
