Moto Rapido Racing have unveiled their Oxford Products Racing Ducati Panigale V2 as the team expand to contest the Quattro Group British Supersport Championship this season with Ben Currie, supported by Ducati UK and Ducati Corse.
The team announced their arrival into the Supersport series in November and since then, there has been work behind the scenes at their Hampshire-based workshop to be built to the same specification as the World Championship machines.
Multiple Supersport race winner Currie will make his on track debut with the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team at the opening official test at Navarra this weekend, the first opportunity for the Australian to get on track alongside teammate Christian Iddon on the Superbike.
Team Owner Steve Moore commented: “It’s been an exciting project for us and with additional help from Oxford Products, Ducati UK and Ducati Corse for 2023 too. We even got a new title of ‘Ducati Factory Supported Team’.
“Winter has been busy preparing and building the Ducati V2 for the British Supersport Championship this year. British Supersport bikes really are mini Superbikes, with many nice details the team have come up with, it is a bike we’re very proud to produce.
“We have had technical help from Ducati with access to the setup that seems to be working well in the World Championship and that has really helped get us up and running. The bike in Supersport “Next Generation” regulations has restricted/balanced power to be in line with other Supersport bikes, but we have concentrated on making the most of that with our technical partners Ducati Corse, Termignoni, Sprint filter, STM and Racebolt. Because of that, we have the best and lightest motors possible.
“For the chassis, we have some great information from our time winning races in the Ducati Cup, but we have also actually taken a lot of information from our time in BSB Superbike with the Panigale pre V4R era. The chassis and geometry are very similar, so we understand what is needed and with the help of K-tech we have the suspension solution we need.
“In World Championship there has been a lot of talk about weight and combined bike and rider weight, so we have focused on meeting the regulation minimum of 243kg for bike and rider, it’s 3kg more than the other manufacturers so we are confident we can hit that.
“The electronics are a big step from the Ducati Cup, with the series control Mectronik ECU we have spent a lot of time managing the power and engine braking. I could talk about that for hours, but it’s really just about making the absolute most of the power available. For Datalogging we will use the MoTeC system, as on our Superbike, so we can operate both bikes on the same platform.
“We put a great package together for the Ducati V2 with a complete electronics package, Termignoni exhaust and some supported prices for parts from Ducati this year. Several of the Ducati Cup riders have converted their bikes to Supersport spec and we’ll be supporting those guys throughout the year with software and chassis updates as we develop Ben’s bike too. As we find what works and what doesn’t, we’ll roll it out to the other riders too.”