WorldSBK: Michael Rinaldi: “I want to approach the weekends in a calmer way”

Now riding for the Motocorsa Ducati team after losing his factory seat to Nicolo Bulega, Rinaldi won’t be expected to achieve the same results as when he lined up alongside two-time WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista.

Rinaldi struggled at times to deal with high expectations, but when he did put forward his best performance, the Italian was always a threat to the likes of Bautista, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea.

• Bassani: “The best rider was Toprak, expected more from Rinaldi” 
• Bautista: “Toprak never made mistakes, his performance was unbelievable”

But missing was consistency, which he hopes to have more of thanks to a different approach next year.

Speaking to WorldSBK.com, Rinaldi said: “Something I would like to do for the future because now it's too late [for last season] is to approach the weekend in a calmer way. 

“I want an easy approach to have less pressure. That helped me in the last few rounds to improve my performance.”

Rinaldi was then asked about his 2023 campaign and which was his best moment, to which he answered: “Misano because it was special in front of my closest ones and we raced in yellow. It was a bit bittersweet in Race 2 because I was third and touched Toprak. But that’s part of the game and was my best weekend.”

A winner at Aragon, Rinaldi was just one of four riders that took victory in 2023, joining the three riders mentioned above. 

But it could have been more had a red flag not been deployed when he held a commanding lead at Mandalika.

Discussing his happiest and saddest moment of the year, Rinaldi said: “The win in Aragon because 2022 without a win and in 2023 we were back on top of the podium. Mandalika was the worst moment when I was leading the race by four seconds but then they put out the red flag and I didn’t have new tyres for the restart of the race.”