Puccetti Racing ‘doesn’t intend to continue in WorldSBK’ next season if Kawasaki cannot act to turn around its declining competitiveness in the plus-1000cc class.

A mainstay of both the WorldSBK and WorldSSP paddock, Puccetti Racing has in recent years assumed status as Kawasaki’s primary satellite arm in both classes, while it famously gave Toprak Razgatlioglu his big break in the Superbike class.

However, Kawasaki is in the midst of its worst form in WorldSBK for more than a decade with its factory KRT squad increasingly fading into the pack despite the efforts of six-time WorldSBK title-winning talisman Jonathan Rea.

Kawasaki’s slip in competitiveness is even more pronounced among its privateer contingent with Puccetti Racing, a regular top ten competitor until recently and two-time race winner with Razgatlioglu in 2019, languishing at the bottom-end of the order with just a single point from 18 races.

Originally starting the season with 2013 WorldSBK Champion Tom Sykes, a desperate run of technical issues and the availability of a factory BMW seat prompted the Briton to leave after four rounds, with Tito Rabat stepping in to complete the season.

>>> 2023 WorldSBK Championship Standings <<<

However, with no new generation Kawasaki ZX-10RR on the horizon, at least not until 2025 at the earliest, eponymous owner Manuel Puccetti says he is close to walking away from WorldSBK to focus his efforts on WorldSSP, where he will have use of the new Kawasaki ZX-6R next season.

"Unfortunately, Kawasaki is going through a very difficult time, and the situation is quite critical in terms of results,” he told GPOne.com 

"Rea is riding beyond the limit, pulling out all the stops but it’s not enough. In Misano he arrived seconds after Bautista. 

"That’s too bad because Kawasaki has always boasted a glorious history in this paddock, and it deserves to occupy other positions." 

"A breakthrough is needed for next year and I’ve already discussed this with the bosses at Kawasaki. We won with Toprak but now we’re far from the top ten. 

"My priority is certainly to continue with Kawasaki. But, under these circumstances I’m not having it and I don’t intend to continue my adventure in Superbike [if it continues]. 

"I’d rather move forward and focus all my efforts on the Supersport class."