A Panigale V4 R Factory for Ryo Mizuno and full support from Ducati Corse: Yukio Kagayama's team sets out to conquer Japanese Superbike.
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A presentation with great fanfare for a program that is actually unprecedented in the history of All Japan Superbike. At the headquarters of the Italian Embassy in Tokyo, the Ducati Team Kagayama revealed the project and the livery which will dress the Panigale V4 R Factory entrusted to Ryo Mizuno for the entire 2024 JSB1000 season. Yukio Kagayama, a rider with a past all over the world, figures as the architect of a project that saw him leave Suzuki after 33 years to embrace the cause of Bologna, all with one mission: win in the All Japan and the Suzuka 8 Hours.
Presentation at the Italian Embassy
Precisely to reaffirm the union between Italy and Japan on the Borgo Panigale-Yokohama axis, the Ducati Team Kagayama revealed itself at the headquarters of the Italian embassy in Tokyo, already the scene of an event in October last with the presence of the Ducati MotoGP team. Gianluigi Benedetti, Italian Ambassador to Japan, spoke on this occasion, as well as
Paolo ciabatti, responsible for Ducati Corse projects in the main national championships this year, in a video message.
The All Japan Superbike project
The event, even broadcast live on the Web, saw Yukio Kagayama reiterating the ambitious intentions that convinced him to leave Suzuki (and Yoshimura) to race with Ducati in the All Japan Superbike. The availability of a Panigale V4 R Factory represents a guarantee of competitiveness, even more so if it is entrusted to Ryo Mizuno, former HRC protégé and fresh off the double success at the final 2023 round of the JSB1000 at Suzuka.
Ducati has never won in Japanese Superbike
With Bridgestone tires and a red-black livery, Ducati Team Kagayama will be looking for victory in the All Japan Superbike starting next March, challenging Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki on its home turf. The objective will be at least to get on the podium, achieved by Ducati in the All Japan on a single occasion 30 years ago with Noriyuki Haga and the Foundation Team.
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Alessio Piana
