With thoughts starting to turn to the 2018 WorldSBK Championship, Orelac Racing VerdNatura will make the step up to the WorldSBK category with Leandro Mercado.

The Argentinean rider has put in a stunning effort in the 2017 season, racing with the IODARacing Aprilia backed team he secured a solid championship finish with an impressive performance throughout the season.

The STK1000 runner up from 2016 was able to adapt well to the Aprilia, but now is able to have his sights set on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR for 2018.

On top of this fantastic news, the team will also continue to run in WorldSSP with Spaniard Nacho Calero, once again onboard a Kawasaki ZX-6R.

Jose Calero, Team Principle is delighted with the news: “The step up to WorldSBK is a big one and nobody here is underestimating the amount of hard work that has to be done. It is a very big challenge, but one that we are all excited about."

"When we made the decision to go to WorldSBK next year, Giulio Bardi and I were in contact with quite a few riders. Our talks with Tati were very constructive and we were able to come to a good agreement thanks to Arturo Scalise of Kawasaki Argentina.”

Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri had a strong day in the office on Friday at the Acerbis Qatar Round, as the duo secured a podium finish in front of the floodlights and were able to enjoy the new podium for the first time ever.

Despite a tough Superpole session in the early afternoon at Qatar, Davies started from eighth position on the grid and had a tough challenge ahead of him for the 17 lap race.

Getting a strong start to the race, he was soon up and into the podium battle however faced a difficult race. Feeling uncomfortable with the front end of his Panigale, the British rider was able to put in a tough fight and managed his Pirelli tyres well to cross the line in second position.

Not only did he secure another podium finish, but he now sits in second position in the world championship standings with one race remaining.

Happy with the result, Davies explains: “I’m pretty happy with that to be honest, we’ve been relatively nowhere all weekend, I think in general pace we’ve been ok and nothing special."

"In the race we made the best of what we had, I’m happy with the position and happy with the points over Tom, pretty unhappy with how things felt, it’s one of those races where it felt like I was managing issues from the second corner to the chequered flag." He added

Joining his team-mate on the podium, Marco Melandri was able to secure a podium finish upon his return to the circuit with the WorldSBK paddock, and the Italian was happy to make the best out of a tough weekend.

Fighting for the podium at the front, once he saw rival Alex Lowes crash out, he chose to take it steady and was able to secure a podium finish with his Panigale.

Crossing the line 10 seconds behind race winner Jonathan Rea, Melandri was happy with the result he secured: “It’s been a tough weekend until Superpole, we had a lot of issues and we struggled to find a good set up on the bike."

"The team put in some awesome work we found a better set up for the race and the feeling was much better. Even if it wasn’t the best I could ride almost close to my limit, the first part of the race was ok but then I was struggling too much with the front. When Lowes went down I preferred to slow down, and I think it was the best result I could have got today so I am happy."

source: worldsbk.com

The final race of the 2017 season at the Acerbis Qatar Round on Saturday night brought another win for Jonathan Rea as he crossed the line just under two seconds ahead of Chaz Davies, with Alex Lowes in third.

The victory gives Rea the record of most points in a single WorldSBK season (556 points), beating the previous record set by Colin Edwards in 2002, as the Northern Irishman ends the year with 16 victories and 24 podiums in 2017.

Davies made an incredible start as he shot from eighth on the grid to first within the first two corners, but Rea soon took control of the race on lap four and he did not look back from there.

With 14 laps to go Welshman Davies survived a big wobble - with perhaps the biggest save of the season - holding his nerve to continue on the pace and ultimately wrap up second place in the race and second place in the final championship standings.

Lowes got the better of his Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team colleague Michael van der Mark in the second half of the race and finally finished 1.658s ahead of the Dutchman.

Xavi Fores ended the season on a high in fifth place, whilst Marco Melandri was 5.688s behind the Spaniard in sixth place. Eugene Laverty beat Sylvain Guintoli to seventh by less than half a second, overcoming the Frenchman on the last lap.

Leon Camier completed his last race with MV Agusta Reparto Corse in ninth place just ahead of Roman Ramos.

A huge crash for Jordi Torres at Turn 5 in the early running meant his last race with BMW ended in the gravel, the Spanish rider seen bravely walking away after the massive highside.

On the third lap Tom Sykes crashed out of third place at turn 14, ending his hopes of challenging Davies for the championship runner-up spot.

Davide Giugliano was declared unfit due to gastroenteritis and therefore the unwell Italian missed out on the last race of the year.

The WorldSBK riders will be back in action at the first round of the 2018 season at Phillip Island in Australia next February.

Battling through a difficult day of track conditions under the floodlights in the Acerbis Qatar Round, Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori secured top five finishes in the penultimate WorldSBK Championship race.

Irish rider Eugene Laverty took a top four finish following a steady start to the race, he was soon locked in the battle and was able to keep his strong pace for the entire race.

Able to fight up with front runners in the closing laps, Laverty equalled his best result of the season and heads into Saturday with a strong feeling. Beginning to build his confidence, starting from pole position Laverty will hope to end a difficult season on a high.

“This was a real race for us, coming forward we equalled our best result in Portimao hut this was better, in Portimao we were going backwards and this time we coming forwards and attacking guys so it felt like a real race."

"Its’ really nice to be starting from pole position for the first race of the year, we’ve been improving the bike all weekend. Yesterday I wasn’t really happy with it but today they made a really big step so I’m confident we can make another step for tomorrow”

Italian Lorenzo Savadori took the top five finish of the race and equalled his best result, but was unable to make it past his team-mate on the straight with the 5.3km circuit. Feeling strong with his Aprilia machine, the Italian is hoping to make a few changes to improve the pace and the fight throughout the 17 lap race.

Analysing his race, Savadori explains: “It was quite a good race; I struggled a lot at the beginning of the race because I had a little problem with the rear. After this I overtook Eugene and I tried to pass him and he immediately passed me back."

"In some places I was faster than him and in others he was faster than me but it was a good result for me, for the team and for Aprilia and I am quite happy, I want to do more because I think we can do more.”