Marlboro Ducatio has not ruled out an out-of-season World Superbike appearance after fellow Bologna racer Carlos Checa called him out to race in the championship at Imola as there is no clash.

Checa told Italian newspaper Gazetta dello Sport that he would like to race Rossi as he had been setting faster laptimes on the 1198 than Rossi had been on his GP11.1, and he said he thought The Doctor would enjoy a ride out on the production racer at Imola at the end of this month.

"Is it possible with the calendar? Yes? OK. It's a good idea, I like. It is always difficult for the calendar. In the past I was very close to make a Superbike race, especially I think 2009. There was the debut in Qatar but Yamaha say to me they had the new R1 but they don't have a lot of money, they weren't sure but I want to do," said Rossi, speaking to bikesportnews.com today.

"I prefer to do it out of the season because during it is too much, it is enough doing this. The results of Carlos and Ducati, the bike is fast, so why not in the future? Maybe we can have more fun than here."