It was the great revelation of the 2021 Supersport World Championship and he will enter Superbike by immediately registering for the record book: this morning the Barni Racing Team announced that it will be Luca Bernardi to defend his colors in 2022 and 2023, with the San Marino rider he will become the first rider of the third millennium to race in the SBK World Championship, having been born on 29 August 2001.
Last week we anticipated the agreement between Marco Barnabò’s team and the emerging talent, who unfortunately was forced to close his 2021 season prematurely due to an accident in the Magny-Cours stage, in which he had remedied the fracture of the T12 vertebra, which had also forced him to undergo surgery.
Until that moment, however, his roadmap had been very interesting: on his debut in the World Championship, as reigning champion of the CIV, he was able to get on the podium on five occasions on the Yamaha of CM Racing, also signing a pole. position in the Magny-Cours round.
Now the transition to the premier class of production derivatives and the jump on the Ducati Panigale V4 awaits him, but Luca seems really eager to start this new adventure.
“Racing in Superbike is a dream that comes true. I decided to accept the offer of the Barni Racing Team as they have shown that they believe in my growth more than anyone else. Marco Barnabò was close to me after the crash of Magny-Cours and he decided to bet on me despite what happened “, said Bernardi.
“I want to thank him for this opportunity and I will try to adapt quickly to the bike by trying to be competitive as soon as possible. I am looking forward to getting to know the team and working with them very soon,” he added.
Team principal Barnabò also made no secret of his enthusiasm for the agreement: “I have been following Luca since the beginning of the season and his performances impressed me from the first rounds. His growth was constant but also very fast. In World Supersport he went immediately strong, even on tracks he didn’t know and this convinced me to invest in him. “
“Over the next two years we want to give him the opportunity with the right times to prove his worth and our team will invest by providing him with a bike with the same components as the factory Ducati team,” he concluded.
Tito Rabat, Barni Racing Team
Photo by: Barni Racing Team