We’ve only got to wait till Thursday for the official announcement of the new V4 Ducati superbike engine (there’s an event at Misano, just before the MotoGP round, strangely). But in the meantime, here’s another ‘spy pic’ of the new bike, in heavily disguised form.

At first glance, it’s another Panigale, but the closer you look, the more differences you spot. The fairing is longer and has different cutouts, there’s a weird frame cover bit, and the big fat header pipe is missing from the side of the engine there. Then you see the little cylinder head peeking out in front of the rear wheel, and it’s clear this is no mega-bore V-twin lump under there.

The forks seem unremarkable, and there’s still a single-sided swingarm here, suggesting the final bike will stick to the mono-arm favoured for all the sexy Ducatis of late. No-one wants to do another 999, clearly.

We’ll be running with all the new details of the motor from Misano on Thursday. And, fingers crossed, we’ll be riding the beast sooner rather than later too…