ROAD NEWS
NICCOLÒ CANEPA TO RETIRE AFTER BOL D ’ OR
Niccolò Canepa is set to retire from racing after the 2024 FIM Endurance World Championship ( EWC ) season finale at the Bol d ’ Or on September 12th-15th , with the Italian looking to end his career on a high note by securing backto-back EWC titles . The 36-year-old has had an illustrious career spanning over two decades , during which time he has raced in MotoGP , WorldSBK , Moto2 , WorldSSP , and MotoE and has become the most successful Italian EWC rider in history . Canepa , who hails from Genoa , began his career in the Italian national championships before making his WorldSSP debut in 2005 . After finishing second in the 2006 European Superstock 600 Championship , he went on to be crowned the 2007 FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Champion . Following this success , he made his WorldSBK debut the following season with a couple of wildcard rides and became a MotoGP test rider before stepping up to the premier class full-time in 2009 . After finishing an impressive 16th overall during his debut MotoGP season , he switched to Moto2 in 2010 and made 11 starts before returning to the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup in 2011 . A full season in WorldSBK followed in 2012 , and he then finished as runner-up in the 2013 FIM
Superstock 1000 Cup . He returned to WorldSBK for the 2014 and 2015 seasons before starting his long association with Yamaha when he joined the GMT94 Yamaha EWC Team in 2016 , finishing as runners-up in the Endurance World Championship that year , with Canepa also becoming the official Yamaha Motor Europe WorldSBK test rider . His test rider role saw him substitute for an injured Sylvain Guintoli for four races during the 2016 WorldSBK season , securing four top-ten finishes . He also filled in for the sidelined Florian Marino in two races that year in the STK1000 European Championship , recording a podium ( 3rd ) at Donington Park . In just his second year with GMT94 Yamaha Team , he became the first Italian to win an FIM Endurance World Championship as they lifted the 2016 / 2017 crown , and in the process , he also became the first Italian to claim victory at the Bol d ’ Or , before following this up by finishing as runners-up the following season . Canepa continued to make wildcard appearances in WorldSBK for the Pata Yamaha Team in 2018 , contesting both races at Donington Park and then Misano , scoring points during both outings . He then joined the YART Yamaha EWC
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