Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is the second and final Italian venue to host a WorldSBK event this year, as the PATA Riviera di Rimini Round stages the eighth of the 13 race meetings this season. Althea Racing’s Matteo Baiocco is now joined by Niccolo Canepa, who returns to the team as he replaces Nico Terol.

“We finally reach Misano, a track that I’ve always really liked, and we also get here feeling very positive after the great weekend at Portimao - which ended with Monday’s test during which we tried some really positive solutions,” Baiocco begins. “I can’t wait to try them on my home track in front of the many fans that will come to support me. Misano is my favourite track on the WorldSBK calendar and so I really want to complete two top-level races this weekend.”

For Canepa, Althea becomes his third different team in 2015 following previous stints with Team Hero EBR and Grillini SBK Team.

“I can’t wait to be back in the Team Althea garage at Misano,” says Canepa. “I’ve been training hard in order to arrive at the round in the best possible physical shape. I hope that the weather is good, so that we can work well right from the first session on Friday morning and build confidence with my Ducati. It’s an important race for me and for the team and I’ll try hard to be fast right from the outset.”

The riders’ first challenge will be re-learning Misano, which has been entirely resurfaced this season and features modifications to several parts of race track.