Oli Bayliss heading to Europe
In a move we first intimated at during a wide ranging interview with Oli, Troy and Kim back in July, Ducati has now officially confirmed that Oli Bayliss will contest the new look World Supersport Championship in 2022.
Oli recently turned 18 after breaking through for his maiden Superbike victory in the Australian Superbike Championship at Darwin earlier this year on the DesmoSport Ducati Panigale V4 R.
Ducati recently released a 21st anniversary special edition V2 Panigale to commemorate the first of Troy’s three World Superbike Championship victories and it is on just such a machine that Oli will contest the new look World Supersport Championship with in 2022.
Oli will be aiming to get another Superbike win under his belt before he departs our shores when he rides the DesmoSport Ducati Panigale V4 R at the final round of the 2021 Australian Superbike Championship that will be staged over the first week in December at South Australia’s The Bend Motorsports Park. He will have his work cut out for him though as MotoGP star Jack Miller is rumoured to be racing the ASBK event along with his good mate and top FIM Endurance World Championship rider Josh Hook…
The arrival in Europe of the youngest of the Bayliss clan will be eagerly watched, but Oli has his feet firmly on the ground, is very well liked amongst his peers here in Australia, and I am sure will prove just as popular as his dad was, and still is!
Oli will join Barni Racing’s new World Supersport effort as the long running Superbike team expands into the new look Supersport Championship. Oli’s team-mate will be 20-year-old Luca Bernardi.
Up until now the Supersport class has been bound by regulations to incorporate 600cc four-cylinder, 675cc three-cylinder and 750cc twin-cylinder machines. As the market has so significantly changed in recent years and moved away from the motorcycles that did make up the category, 2022 will see the Supersport class open up to include 955 cc twins and 765 cc triples.
