Chaz Davies will be back in the MotoGP paddock this year, as part of Aruba.it Racing’s new team. Davies be racing something a little different this time around, though.
The team will take part in the MotoE World Championship, and Davies’ signing with the team means he is set for his first full season in a MotoGP support class since he raced the 250cc World Championship in 2005.
Since then, Davies has become a stalwart of the WorldSBK paddock, winning the Supersport World Championship in 2011, and going on to be the strongest challenger to Jonathan Rea in the second half of the 2010s as the rider most able to consistently contend for race wins with the Ducati 1199 Panigale.
Since quitting WorldSBK at the end of the 2021 season, Davies has been taken on-board the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team as rider coach, helping Alvaro Bautista to two world titles in the past two seasons, and Nicolo Bulega to last year’s Supersport World Championship. In addition to those duties, Davies has been a part of the ERC Ducati team in the Endurance World Championship.
Moving to MotoE with the Aruba Cloud team for 2024, Davies will reunite with the Ducati V21L, a motorcycle he had a hand in developing alongside Alex De Angelis and Michele Pirro.
On the news of his MotoE entry, Davies said: “First of all, I would like to thank Stefano Cecconi and Aruba for the trust they have placed in me by embarking on this new adventure. Our long relationship has also developed in many different ways, first on the track with Superbike, then in the role of riders’ coach during the last two fantastic seasons.
“2024 will be my tenth year of working with Aruba which fills me with pride. I am extremely excited for this new chapter, which has only been increased since having already had the chance to ride the Ducati V21L.
“I’ve certainly had a lot of fun riding this innovative bike and look forward to now having the chance to compete with other riders, which is why I didn’t think twice about accepting the Aruba Cloud MotoE team’s proposal. It’s with great enthusiasm that I return to the track.”
The MotoE World Championship will begin on 22-24 March at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, on the same weekend as the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix at the same circuit.
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