This is the Ducati racers Troy Bayliss and Josh Brookes, are waiting for. A prototype of the race-ready Panigale V4 R made a brief debut in WSBK form at the season-ending round of the British Superbike championship at Brands Hatch last month.

Ducati test rider Michele Pirro made a few quick demo laps and, while the all-black prototype racer is far from a showroom machine, it gives an insight into some of the changes.

Make no mistake, this will be the closest Ducati comes to making another MotoGP bike for the road. Three-time World Superbike champion Bayliss has revealed exclusively to AMCN that he expects to receive at least one V4 R for next year’s ASBK campaign but probably not until at least the second round. Meanwhile, BSB star Josh Brookes has said his decision to defect from Yamaha to campaign for Ducati in BSB was based purely around the potential of the V4 R.

In total, Ducati must make at least 500 of the V4 R over the next two years to ensure its eligibility to race. At least 125 must be built before the first race it enters, with a further 125 completed by the end of 2019 and another 250 made in 2020.

Ducati’s V4 R at a glance

To comply with FIM Superbike rules, the Panigale V4 R uses  a sub-1000cc version of the  V4 and V4 S 1103cc engine. We expect Ducati will reduce the stroke from 53.5mm to 48.5mm, retaining the Panigale V4’s 81mm bore. That will give identical measurements to its current Desmosedici GP bikes and increase revs to 14,000rpm. WSBK rev limits mean there would be little or no advantage to using a bigger bore and even shorter stroke.

The race prototype features notably different  side air outlets  to the normal Panigale V4. If that’s a change the firm plans to race with, it will also need to be carried over to the production V4 R to meet FIM eligibility.

Strangely, the V4 R isn’t running any winglets, despite Ducati being at the forefront of that movement in MotoGP. If it decides to run winglets for WSBK it must also fit them to the V4R production models sold in Europe, Japan and North America.

It’s inevitable the V4R will use Ohlins and Brembo suspension and brakes, but it won’t be the super-expensive, race-only stuff seen here. Ducati must keep the production V4 R’s  price  below the FIM’s $65,000 price cap.

“Ducati’s V4 will be an awesome bike and I’m excited to be a part of this and to start winning regularly again.” Josh Brookes

Josh Brookes

“We plan to continue next year with Ducati’s V4R. We’ll work out base settings on an 1100cc version while we wait for delivery.” Troy Bayliss