The Reale Avintia Team will once again field Ducati machinery next season, the Spanish outfit re-signing their contract with the Italian manufacturer today at the Circuit of the Americas.
Avintia has been a customer of Ducati since the Aragon round of the 2014 season, when Hector Barbera switched to a Desmosedici GP14. The team has since fielded two of the eight Ducatis on the current grid.
Ducati stepped up the level of machinery available to Avintia for 2017, with Barbera getting a hold of last year’s double race-winning GP16 and Loris Baz receiving the multiple podium finishing GP15.
As part of their new deal, Avintia will receive this year’s Desmosedici for both of their contracted riders, which team CEO Raul Romero feels is an important step in securing the long-term future of the squad.
“I’m extremely happy to announce that we will be racing with Ducati next season,” said Romero.
“We are like a family and we are fully integrated in their MotoGP project. We had some more options for next season, but the confidence showed by Paolo Ciabatti and Gigi Dall’Igna over these years made the decision easy to sign so early in the season.
“We feel an incredible support from the factory and the guaranty to have this year’s factory bikes for next season is really important for the team. Now it will be easy to find more sponsorship and to keep growing.”
Ducati Sporting Directo Paulo Ciabatti added: “We are really happy and satisfied to be able to continue our relationship with Reale Avintia Racing in 2018.
“It is a team that started to work with us at the end of 2014 and since then they have never stopped growing together with Ducati. We believe that the team will have a great opportunity to do a fantastic job again next season, as they are doing now and as they did in the last years working with us.”
Avintia have enjoyed a decent start to their 2017 campaign, with both Barbera and Baz making it into the points in both races. Baz currently sits 14th in the standings on nine points, with the injured Barbera 17th on six.
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