DUCATI CORSE SIGNS MICHEL FABRIZIO FOR 2008 WORLD SUPERBIKE SEASON Bologna (Italy), Monday 10 September 2007 : Ducati Corse wishes to announce that it has signed the young Italian rider, Michel Fabrizio, to compete in the 2008 World Superbike Championship season in the factory Ducati Xerox Team alongside Australian Troy Bayliss. Rome-born Michel Fabrizio, who turns 23 next week on September 17th, has joined the team on a one-year contract and his first race for Ducati Xerox will be the opening round of the 2008 championship. “I am really happy!” declared Michel. “I hope I will give a good impression of myself within the team and I also hope I can enter the hearts of all the Ducatisti throughout the world. The decision came about while I was on holiday in August. I received a telephone call from Davide Tardozzi, who said there was a possibility of racing for Ducati, and that was a great satisfaction for me. It’s a big commitment, we will have the new bike and I’m going to have to work really hard. I know we have 12 days of testing available and I’ve got to make the most of them, because I immediately have to get to know the new bike and start to gel with my new team. My first appearance will for sure be after October 30th, when my contract with Honda comes to an end, so that means in the scheduled tests in November. My team-mate Troy Bayliss is the only thing that I’m not worried about because Troy is a great person and a great rider, so I think I can learn a lot from him. I can’t wait to start this new adventure!”. Michel began racing in 1999 at the age of 15 in the Honda Trophy events and was already on the podium after two races. The next couple of years saw Michel emerge with a series of wins and titles in the Coppa Italia (2000) and Challenge Aprilia, Supercampione and Sport Production (2001). In 2002 he arrived on the world scene when he was given a ride on a Gilera in 125 GP but results were disappointing. Alstare Racing then offered Fabrizio the chance to race in the European Superstock category and the Roman repaid the faith in him by winning the title in 2003 at the age of 19. In 2004 Michel was again back in the World Road-Racing Championships, but this time on the WCM machine in MotoGP. The next year Fabrizio scored a few good results in World Supersport with a Team Megabike Honda and this was followed in 2006 by a move up to World Superbike with a Honda for the DFX Corse team, where he is currently competing. Michel’s best results in World Superbike have been a second and a third at Brno in 2006, a third at Assen and another third place at Brno this year. Ducati Corse Superbike Project Leader, Davide Tardozzi, added: “We’d like to give a warm welcome to Michel who is a talented young rider and who in our opinion has not yet expressed all of his considerable potential. 2008 will surely be an important season for him, seeing as for the first time he is part of a factory team. All of us here in Ducati Corse would like to thank Lorenzo Lanzi for the commitment he has demonstrated in these years, and for the popularity he has been able to create with all the many Ducati tifosi”.