Michael Ruben Rinaldi announces WorldSBK retirement
Michael Ruben Rinaldi has announced his retirement from WorldSBK, but says his “purpose” remains the same.
Former factory Ducati WorldSBK rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi has announced his retirement from the series.
Rinaldi competed in the World Superbike Championship from 2018, after beating Toprak Razgatlioglu in the 2017 European Superstock 1000 championship.
Riding first for the Aruba.it Racing Junior Team, Rinaldi moved to the Barni Ducati team in 2019, then to Go Eleven in 2020 where he took his first victory in WorldSBK at Aragon. Four more victories followed in a three-season stint with the factory Ducati squad, his last coming at Aragon in 2023.
The Italian-Venezuelan was then replaced by Nicolo Bulega in the Aruba.it Racing Ducati squad for 2024 and he moved to the Motocorsa team – a marriage that led to a downturn in results for Rinaldi who scored only seven top-10 finishes during that season.
A step down to WorldSSP came in 2025 aboard a Yamaha R9 for the GMT94 squad, but after scoring points on only two occasions in the opening six rounds, Rinaldi moved back to World Superbike with the MotoxRacing Yamaha team from the Misano round to replace Tito Rabat, scoring points on five occasions and finishing 22nd in the riders’ standings.
Rinaldi has now announced that his time in WorldSBK is done, although he says that becoming World Champion is still his “purpose”.
“I wish I could find the words to express what I feel, but it’s hard,” Michael Ruben Rinaldi wrote in an Instagram post, which features a clip of his final WorldSBK win at Aragon.
“My time as a full-time WorldSBK rider has come to an end. Not because I’m ready to stop, but because I’ve learned that sometimes the best thing you can do is not to force life, but to let it unfold naturally.
“The hunger, though… it’s still there. The fire to win burns just as strong. Becoming World Champion remains my purpose, my unfinished story.
“I’ll keep chasing that dream, maybe on different tracks, maybe in different championships.
“And beyond racing, I’m working on something new, beyond motorcycles, yet driven by the same passion.
“So, thank you. It’s been a beautiful ride! And the road ahead is only just beginning!
“But this big part of my heart and career ends here. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”
Rinaldi has been replaced in the MotoxRacing team for the 2026 WorldSBK season by 20-year-old Italian Mattia Rato, who steps up from the CIV Supersport championship.
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Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
