Michael Ruben Rinaldi continues to struggle in the 2024 World Superbike Championship.
After six years with Ducati in World Superbikes, it seems like Michael Ruben Rinaldi's time with the Italian manufacturer could be coming to an end.
Rinaldi started his WorldSBK career with the Aruba.it Racing - Junior Team. He then spent one season with the BARNI Racing Team and Team GoEleven. In 2021 Rinaldi moved into the factory Aruba.it Racing - Ducati squad, where he stayed until the end of 2023.
For the 2024 season, Rinaldi moved into the Motocorsa Ducati Team as he was replaced by Nicolo Bulega. So far this season Rinaldi has made little to no impact in the team throughout the Championship. After seven rounds and 21 races, Rinaldi is 17th in the standings with 18 points. Rinaldi is also behind all the other Ducati riders in the Championship.
Motocorsa team boss, Lorenzo Mauri, spoke about the situation his team find themselves in: "We are 100 points behind our direct competitor as an independent rider."
"That's a lot for the coming races. So it's quite clear that we have to lower our expectations. The team is continuing to work, the championship is still long and my dream is to finish the season with a few more points to at least move us away from 17th place in the championship."
"Our rider told us that he didn't have the right feeling for the bike in the first five or six laps, mainly because of the full tank. We took note of this and immediately got to work to narrow down the situation and find a solution," explained Mauri.
At Portimao Rinaldi's best result was 16th place, outside of the points. A low point for the rider and the team.
"We also agreed to try the set-up of the bike that Rinaldi used here last year, but the lap times have not improved and the performance has remained the same. With both our setting and those he has used in the past, we are not good enough and we are not performing. We are in the dark, not performing and ending a weekend without points, in which we really tried everything without getting any positive feedback."
