Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York unveiled the Ducati Panigale V4 R that Italian rider Lorenzo Zanetti will race this weekend at the Superbikes at The Brickyard event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The bike is a full-on, Ducati Corse, customer World Superbike machine that has been built to MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike specifications. In addition to the motorcycle, Ducati Corse supplied Celtic HSBK Racing with two Italian Ducati Corse engineers, who will work with team crew chief Scott Jensen and his mechanics.
Zanetti competed for the Celtic HSBK Racing team at Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington, which was round six of the 2020 Superbike Championship, but he was aboard PJ Jacobsen’s Stock 1000-spec machine.
For Indy, while Jacobsen continues to recover from injuries he sustained in a crash at Road America 2 in June, Celtic HSBK Racing decided to pull out all the stops and acquire a true Ducati factory Superbike.
Incidentally, Zanetti will be aboard the first full-factory Ducati to compete in AMA-sanctioned Superbike racing since teammates Ben Bostrom and Neil Hodgson raced Ducati 999R factory machines for Parts Unlimited in 2006. In August of that year, Ducati North America and Ducati Corse jointly announced that they would cease participation in the AMA Superbike Championship, effective at the end of the 2006 season.
And, even though Celtic HSBK Racing isn’t a full-factory Ducati team in the way that Parts Unlimited Ducati was in 2006, HSBK Racing owner Bobby Shek is hoping that this is just the tip of the iceberg. “It’s a pilot program this weekend, but we’re hoping that it’s the start of bigger things to come,” Shek said.
