With Vermeulen potentially out of the picture now and Fabrizio leaning towards one of the Ducati bikes for 2009, Tardozzi went on to suggest that the race to replace Bayliss is between Max Biaggi and Shane Byrne.

“Max is one of the guys that we think could replace Troy,” he continued. “This year he had a fantastic start and showed how strong he is, but he had some problems that weren't his mistakes. We are really looking forward to see what he will be doing at Brands Hatch.

“Shane is one of the guys on our list too. We were really looking forward to see him at Brands as a wild-card, but his team took the decision not to race because the schedule is very tight and they didn't want to take any risks. But he is an experienced guy and showing he is riding the Ducati the perfect way. He could be one of the guys because he is definitely on our list.”