2025 Ducati Panigale V4 to get race debut this year
The Ducati Panigale V4 will debut in race trim this year in the Endurance World Championship.
The 2025 Ducati Panigale V4 will make its race debut in 2025, but not in WorldSBK.
Since the production bike was launched in the middle of 2024, Ducati has been clear that the 2025 Panigale V4 would not be raced in World Superbike until 2026.
However, the Lodi-based Aviobike team has announced today (20 March 2025) that it will run the bike in the Superstock class of this year’s FIM Endurance World Championship, whose first race is the 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans on 19–20 April.
The team has also partnered with the Italian motorcycle accessory firm WRS who will be the title sponsor this year, renaming the team to Aviobike WRS.
The news comes after Ducati entered a factory bike at the Suzuka 8 Hours last year, missing out on a podium finish to SERT Suzuki in the closing stages of the race and ultimately finishing fourth.
Four riders are listed in the line-up for this year’s EWC campaign: Luca Bernardi, who raced for Aviobike in last year’s EWC season; 2019 MotoE World Cup winner Matteo Ferrari; Akito Haga, the eldest son of Noriyuki Haga; and CIV Superbike rider Alberto Butti.
“I am honored to embark on this new challenge with Nicolas Zavoli of WRS,” said Giovanni Baggi, Team Manager at Aviobike.
“Despite many years spent in racing, first as a rider and then as a team manager, thanks to this new project I still feel butterflies in my stomach.
“2025 will mark a new chapter in my great passion for racing: Aviobike, with the support of WRS, will bring the new Ducati V4 to the Superstock class in the EWC World Championship, a championship that has given me great satisfaction.
“Thanks to my long experience, I think I have conveyed a lot of enthusiasm to the people who will carry out the project with me. Endless races, commitment, and perseverance make this championship something unique.
“I am sure that the team created between Aviobike, WRS, the high-level technical partners, and our riders will give us great satisfaction. A special thanks to all the sponsors who support us in this wonderful project.”
Nicolas Zavoli, CEO of WRS, added: “We will be the first, and for now the only ones, to race the new Ducati V4 in the EWC championship, a bike that represents the highest point of technological evolution of the Borgo Panigale manufacturer.”
“A new challenge, perfectly in line with our company philosophy: made in Italy, performance, and reliability, three concepts that identify WRS.
“This project particularly excites me. Having met Giovanni [Baggi] and listened to many anecdotes and experiences from years of competition, I realized that they are all crazy!
“So I thought to myself: we've got to experience this! We will commit to supporting the project with maximum effort.
“I want to thank the entire Ducati Corse family for their support, we will strive to bring you unforgettable moments. I can't wait to be in Le Mans in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators and I am sure that with a high-performance bike, talented riders, and a team of passionate people, we can be competitive right from the start.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
