During last weekend’s Laguna Seca race more than a MotoGP wag was talking about the fact that rookie Niccolò Canepa was riding on borrowed time and that Ducati and Pramac Racing were going to give the young Genoan rider till Donington to shape up.
Word even had it that Ducati already had 250cc Team Toth’s Mattia Pasini lined up ready to fill in for him.
Instead both Ducati and Paolo Campinoti of Pramac Racing have confirmed their faith in Canepa for the future in their team structure.
Canepa’s brief career so far includes being Ducati’s Bridgestone tire test rider last year and in the past has always rode a Ducati.
First in Superstock 600, then in Ducati’s Xerox Junior Team in Superstock 1000 where he won the Championship with the new 1098s.
He was a wild card twice in WSBK in 2008 and has a two year option with Pramac to ride in MotoGP till 2010 and currently is 16th with 26 points in the riders standings.