Simone Saltarelli Set to Return to CIV Superbike

Simone Saltarelli finally back to full strength after injury: after the FIM EWC Spa 8 Hours he will race the CIV Superbike Racing Night.

It may no longer be officially involved, yet Aprilia is enjoying a good spell in CIV Superbike. At Imola came the first podium of the season courtesy of Luca Bernardi, a splendid third in Race 2 with an ultra-private RSV4 1100 RR run independently, while Luca Vitali has frequently been in the Top 10 so far with the family-run Vitali Racing Team project. Next weekend at Misano, the Noale manufacturer will be chasing confirmation, with Simone Saltarelli returning to the track.

Starting in 2025 as an Aprilia rider between CIV Superbike and the Endurance World Championship, Simone Saltarelli was supposed to limit his appearances in Italy’s top class to just four events on the 2026 calendar due to clashes with the FIM EWC. A program unfortunately compromised by a bad injury suffered last April at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Following a heavy crash during pre-event testing, Simone Saltarelli underwent emergency surgery on his left hand for ligament reconstruction, along with the amputation of two phalanges of his little finger. For this reason, the Senigallia native was forced to miss the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the subsequent CIV Superbike rounds at Misano-1 and Mugello.

After more than a month of enforced rest, Simone Saltarelli returned to racing on June 6 at the Spa 8 Hours, immediately securing the Superstock class victory with REVO-M2 Racing’s #49 RSV4 Factory 1100 alongside Kevin Calia and Flavio Ferroni. While Aprilia’s reference team for the FIM EWC then decided to skip the Suzuka 8 Hours due to prohibitive logistics costs, focusing everything on the Bol d’Or finale scheduled for September 19–20, within a few days the 40-year-old from the Marche region will have the chance to make amends at Misano in CIV Superbike, where he has been absent since the concluding Mugello “triple header” in October 2025.

Simone Saltarelli is expected to line up for the Racing Night round, likely supported by the Vitali Racing Team with several factory technicians and mechanics in tow. In preparation for this event, he recently completed a private test session at Misano with an RSV4 1100 RR in CIV Superbike trim (see opening photo). In addition to “Salta,” several teams from the Italian series took to the circuit named after the late Marco Simoncelli, including the B-Max Racing Team working with Michael Ruben Rinaldi and, somewhat surprisingly, Lukas Tulovic. A presence anything but coincidental, with the reigning IDM Champion expected to make a one-off appearance at the Racing Night with the second Ducati Panigale V4 fielded by Massimo Buna’s outfit.