Despite the fact it was conceived as a road bike series, ever since the World Superbike Championship kicked off in 1988 the grids have been full of ultra-trick homologation specials. From Honda’s glorious RC30 and RC45 to Yamaha’s OWs and even SP and R models from Kawasaki and Suzuki, every manufacturer has created a bespoke version of its road bike to take to the track. But none have gone as far as Ducati...
Using the WSB rules to its advantage, Ducati’s status as a smaller manufacturer allows it to churn out reduced volumes of its homologation specials when compared to the Big Four (just 200 to qualify, where the Japanese had to make 1000), meaning it can rapidly adapt and alter them to give the race team the upper hand. Is it cheating? No, but a few would certainly argue that it’s not within the spirit of the series...