Spanish star Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) teams up with Marco Borciani this year, even if he may not be able to ride in the first couple of rounds, thanks to an injury suffered in training. A serial race winner in the 2003 season, Xaus is expected to make a strong impact once fully fit.
A serious challenge to the 250GP crown in previous years,
Roberto Rolfo is another fast SBK rookie in the 2006 series, as he takes the field for the Ducati SC Caracchi squad. A one-man effort, the new partnership is nonetheless laden with exciting possibilities.
Rolfo's single rider effort is in great contrast to the three-rider festival of speed fielded by the Pedercini Ducati squad. The eponymous team-leader Lucio Pedercini heads up his countryman Ivan Clementi and the already proven talents of young German rider, Max Neukirchner. The latter is a first time Ducati pilot, yet has already impressed in winter testing - despite not having the newest tyres or a full factory machine at his immediate disposal.
Carrying Kawasaki's colours will be the PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse squad, which will sport a green livery in Qatar and, more importantly, enjoy the benefits of a new design of ZX-10R machine, complete with greater manufacturer support than in 2005.
The team has increased to a three-rider set-up, each of them a proven entity in many forms of motorcycle sport. Walker scored a podium on the 2005 PSG-1 Kawasaki, and has already voted the 2006 version as a distinct improvement after good tests in Sepang and Phillip Island.
Laconi - runner-up to team-mate Toseland in 2004, a multiple SBK race winner last year and one of the few riders to have won both SBK and
MotoGP races - is a new face in the squad, while Spanish star
Fonsi Nieto carries on at the team he joined for just two races in 2005. Nieto has already matched times with the more experienced Walker, as the man from Madrid continues the transition from a 250cc past to a Superbike shaped future.
