World Superbike: Claudio Corti To Spearhead MV’s Effort
Paul Carruthers | November 22, 2013
Photography by Gold & Goose
MotoGP CRT rider Claudio Corti is the man the MV Agusta Reparto Corse-Yakhnich Motorsport team has chosen to ride the MV F4 RR in the 2014 World Superbike Championship, the team announced today on the birthday of MV’s late owner Claudio Castiglioni.
“When the team offered me a place, well, the decision couldn’t have been easier,” the 26-year-old Corti said in a team release. “I’m honored and can’t help but feel the responsibility of being part, together with the entire team, of such an ambitious project with none other than MV Agusta, a manufacturer that is a motorcycling legend. Everyone on the team is going to have their work cut out for them during this first year in the World Superbike Championship. I’m looking forward to giving it my all, drawing on all the experience gained so far and turning goals into results.”
Corti raced in the World Superstock Championship in 2006-2008 before moving to the Moto2 World Championship in 2010 on the Forward Racing team. He finished 25th in the championship in 2010 and 2011 and 14th in 2012. This year he rode a Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki to 19th in the MotoGP World Championship.
In addition to announcing Corti as its World Superbike rider, the Yakhnich team also announced its World Supersport team of Russian Vladimir Leonov and Frenchman Jules Cluzel.
Leonov has ridden for the Yakhnich for the past two years and he put the MV on the podium this year in Imola, Italy.
Cluzel returns to the World Supersport Championship after riding for the factory Suzuki team in the 2013 World Superbike Championship.
Team team will test for the first time on Monday and Tuesday in Jerez, Spain.
“Returning to Supersport as part of project like this, with a team who are reigning World Champions and a bike as competitive as the F3, gives me a magnificent opportunity to take the title that remained just out of reach in 2012,” Cluzel said.
Paul Carruthers | Editor
Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.
