Official: Franco Morbidelli replaces Nicolo Bulega in the Ducati works team

As early as July, it became apparent that there would be a swap of places between Nicolo Bulega and Franco Morbidelli. Whilst the Superbike World Champion has signed a two-year contract for MotoGP with Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Ducati team, where he will take over Morbidelli’s place, Franco is joining Aruba.it in the production-based World Superbike Championship and will be team-mate to World Championship runner-up Iker Lecuona.

Ducati with Morbidelli: the dream scenario for fans and the media in Italy right from the start. Yet it was by no means a foregone conclusion. The list of interested parties was long, and Aruba boss Stefano Cecconi has always emphasised the standards he expects of his riders.

Morbidelli, who is tough as nails and at times reckless on the track, is always friendly and polite off the track – traits that Cecconi values highly in terms of fostering a good team atmosphere. For main sponsor Aruba, which makes its money from cloud storage, as well as for Ducati, having an Italian rider is also a marketing advantage. The 30-year-old’s past sporting achievements are also promising: in 2017, ‘Morbido’ became Moto2 World Champion, and in 2020 – the year of the coronavirus pandemic – he surprisingly finished second overall in MotoGP with Yamaha. He has secured eleven Grand Prix victories, three of which were in MotoGP. He has stood on the podium eight times in the premier class, started from pole position twice and set the fastest lap twice.

Franco Morbidelli must prove himself in his first year

The political manoeuvring behind the scenes also worked in Morbidelli’s favour: VR46 would have liked to promote Academy rider Celestino Vietti from Moto2 to MotoGP, but had to bow to Ducati’s wishes and take Superbike World Championship leader Nicolo Bulega instead. This provided strong leverage to secure the Roman rider a place at Aruba.

As with Lecuona’s signing in the summer of 2025, it remains unclear whether Morbidelli will be able to realise his riding potential at Ducati, so Aruba will employ a clever tactic and offer him a contract for 2027 with an option for a second season, which the team can exercise.

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What hardly anyone knows these days is that Morbidelli cut his teeth in the SBK paddock and won the Superstock 600 European Championship on a Kawasaki in 2013. In the same year, he competed in his first three Moto2 races and has been a full-time GP rider since 2014.