Sylvain Barrier has been sacked by the BMW Italia team and was at Donington Park’s MCE British Superbike round looking for work as he is replaced in the squad by Ayrton Badovini.

The Frenchman has struggled to find his form since recovering from a whopping car crash last year. Britain’s Leon Camier stood in for him before Barrier was able to return to racing in 2014 but he hasn’t produced the results.

Badovini had signed for the JR Racing BMW team but no money has materialised from the team owners so the little Italian finds himself on an S1000RR, just with different paint.