Leandro Mercado claims the possible reuniting with Ondrej Jezek would not harm the riders’ strong friendship. Earlier this season, it was muted by the Barni Racing Team owner Marco Barnabo that, should Czech rider Jezek finish in the top three of this year’s Superstock 1000 standings, he will be rewarded with a World Superbike debut ride alongside Argentina’s Mercado at the final event of this year’s season in Qatar.

“It would be good!” Mercado, the Superstock 1000 Champion of 2014, commented during an interview with WorldSBK.com about this year’s season in the junior category. “We are friends and we have a very good relationship. It would be good for him to come to World Superbike so we can race together again - and I hope we can.”

He went on to laugh about that fact that, should Jezek step up to the top class and start beating him on the track, their personal friendship would be damaged:

“We were team-mates last year, so I don’t know why it would have to change. We are very good friends. Last year he finished in front of me in some races and we were still friends! Of course on the track we are not friends, but off it everything is okay!”

Two races remain in this year’s Superstock 1000 season, at Jerez and Magny-Cours. 26-year-old Jezek - who races with number 69 - lies fourth in the standings and just 11 points behind his target of third place, currently occupied by Italian rider Raffaele de Rosa. His best results remain a pair of third place finishes, in consecutive races at Assen and Imola, but he has never finished any lower than eighth place this year.