Honda World Supersport rider Ayrton Badovini will make a return to the World Superbike Championship next season with the Grelini team on a customer Kawasaki ZX-10R.
The Italian rider won the STK 1000 Cup in 2010 and made the step up to the Superbike class the following season with BMW. He remained with the German manufacturer for 2012, scoring a podium finish in the first race of the British round at Silverstone. He switched to the Team Alstare Ducati for 2013 and added to his rostrum tally with third in Russia, finishing the season 12th overall.
Team Alstare made an ill-fated move to Bimota for the 2014 season, but a failure from the Italian manufacturer to produce the minimum quantity of road-legal versions of their Superbike saw them suspended from the championship and the races they contested nullified. Badovini returned to BMW in 2015 before stepping down to the World Supersport Championship with Team Lorini on a Honda CBr600RR. The Italian enjoyed a strong season, winning in Malaysia and finishing sixth in the championship.
“I am happy about this new venture,” Badovini said. “After several years with Andrea we’ve created the right conditions to build something beautiful together. We put together a good foundation, and we have the same vision for the project. I am sure that we will surprise many.”
Team Boss Andrea Grillini added: “For years I tried to bring Badovini to my team. This season has been low in results but the team has worked well and we have a good base to be competitive, especially with a rider like Ayrtone.”
Badovini will get a first taste of the WorldSBK specification Kawasaki at the first pre-season test at the end of November in Jerez, by which time Grillini will have announced their second ride for 2017.
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