WSBK - Lanzi Remains at Ducati

In a surprising move, it has been announced that Lorenzo Lanzi will stay with Ducati in the 2007 WSBK championship.
Lanzi started out well with Ducati at the end of 2005, exploding onto the WSBK scene and winning 2 races for the factory Ducati team. However, his form in 2006 has been nothing short of atrocious. It was a difficult year all round for Lorenzo, who had to cope with the loss of his father, who was a great supporter of his career. Most people thought Lanzi would be replaced with a rider such as Gregorio Lavilla, who has been impressive in British Superbikes, winning the BSB title in 2005, or even Alex Barros, who has instead returned to MotoGP.
Lanzi has the advantage of being an Italian in an Italian team, which is obviously attractive to sponsors. He has also shown at the end of 2005 that he clearly has a huge amount of talent. Ducati must feel that they can end his poor run of form and unleash Lanzi's potential. It will be interesting to see how he fares.