Ducati Corse and Alstare Racing?

The Ducati World Superbike saga took another twist to leftfield with Alstare Racing now apparently in the mix to run the Ducati factory team.

With Ducati Corse and their number-one team Althea Racing splitting recently, it was originally though that Carlos Checa would be part of what would be a 'new' fully official Ducati Corse World Superbike racing team.

While there may well be much more direct factory involvement in 2013, with the Ducati Panigale 1199 full-on World Superbike machine to care for and market properly, it now looks as though former World Champions Alstare may be in the process of coming to an agreement with Ducati to run its team.

Alstare boss Francis Batta has spoken to the Italian media about his plans, which may also include his former rider from the 2010 season, Sylvain Guintoli. But only if Francis Batta can find the appropriate funding.

Said Guintoli, who is still in the running for the number-one slot at Aprillia if Max Biaggi does the unexpected and retires, said, 'There is obviously some plans getting discussed at the minute which are very interesting, but for me now we are still waiting to know exactly what is going on. I think we will know more in the next few days.'

Max Biaggi is expected to hold a press conference in Rome soon to announce his plans for 2013. Speculation is ramping up that he may well retire after all, despite everybody expecting him to stay on for at least one more season...