Popular Frenchman Loris Baz has confirmed he has opened talks with WorldSBK teams aside from the Ten Kate Yamaha squad with which he rode this season.

It was thought that Baz was a shoo-in for the Ten Kate seat in 2021 and on much-improved machinery similar to that of the GRT satellite team.

But it seems that Ten Kate have still to secure sponsorship money for next year, so Baz has begun talks with Barni Ducati, among others.

“It’s a strange situation; I am used to being in this kind of situation at the end of the year but if there was one year I didn’t expect to be in this situation then it would be this one," said Baz.

"I had nearly all of the guarantee from Yamaha that everything was going to be sorted really soon in August but in the end, nothing is sorted yet with Ten Kate.

"The guarantee I had is that I will be on a better bike than this year for sure, with full technical support from Yamaha, so that’ll be good if we can make it work.

“We are also talking with other teams, including the Barni Racing Team and we are waiting on some news at the moment. It’s not an easy situation and for sure not the funniest part of the year for me.

"Luckily, Ten Kate are still talking with sponsors and the Barni option will also be a good one. I am pretty confident that I’ll be on the grid with a good bike, but I can’t be 100 per cent sure at the moment.”