MotoGP: Avintia launch 2018 campaign in Madrid

The Reale Avintia Ducati squad have revealed their 2018 line-up at sponsor Reale Seguros’s headquarters in Madrid, showing off not only their MotoGP squad of Tito Rabat and Xavier Simeon but also their Moto3, European Talent Cup and CEV Moto2 and Moto3 teams.

Along with Rabat and Simeon, Belgian Livio Loi, who will compete for them in Moto3, was joined by the FIM CEV team of Vicente Pérez, Andreas Pérez and Andrea Cavaliere, and their European Talent Cup line-up with Carlos Tatay, Adrían Huertas and Iker García Abella – although Belgian teenager Barry Baltus was forced to sit out the launch to attend school!

And, with successful testing completed after making the move from the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda to a more rider-friendly Ducati at Avintia, Rabat says he’s ready to go racing now.

“The presentation has gone well and the new decoration of the bike is amazing. We are ready to start the World Cup in Qatar next week and I can not wait to start the first free practice sessions. In this team I am at home and from the first moment I really liked my Ducati GP17. Now we just have to wait for the red light to go out in Qatar.”