Despite securing the opening victory of the season at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Roberto Rolfo and Team Factory Vamag have parted company, with Italian rider Lorenzo Zanetti stepping in and taking his place for the remainder of the season.

29 year old Zanetti has spent 2017 competing in the CIV Superbike Championship onboard a Ducati Panigale machine, and will make his return to the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship following half a season away from the series. Debuting in the WorldSBK class in 2012, he struggled inboard the Pata Racing machine, and made the step into the WorldSSP series for four seasons.

Securing top five championship positions over the years, Zanetti will be hoping to return to his competitive ways in 2017 with the MV Agusta F3 675 machine. With two tests ahead of him over the summer break, the Italian looks forward to a strong second half of the season working with such a “professional team”.

Zanetti commented: “It's never nice to make a replacement mid-season, and I wish Roby the best for his future. However, I'm thrilled to return to the World Championship on my MV Agusta, and to run with a professional and passionate team like Team Factory Vamag is fantastic. After seeing their hard work in the last year, I think they are amongst the best in the category. I'm very calm and excited, and I'm sure the team will give me the right bike in order to feel happy and strong with the bike. I also want to thank Team Moto Corse, who I will finish the CIV season with, and who will allow me to accept this offer."

Explaining the team’s decision, team manager Ghelfi Learco has added: “The main reason was the unsatisfactory results, and we weren’t able to achieve what we expected. Nevertheless the promising start to the season was recognised, but one race win does not make the most of the commitment given by the team.”

With the next round of the season in five weeks time at Lausitzring in Germany, the team will hope to make some strong advances with the testing scheduled over the coming weeks before aiming to secure some strong results in the second half of the season.