Pedercini and Loris Cresson part ways, Leon Haslam set for WorldSBK return?

Cresson, who had been with the Kawasaki outfit since the beginning of the 2021 WorldSBK campaign, was set for his second full season in the class. 

With the Belgian being one of very few to finance their own ride in the world championship, contract agreements being unfulfilled are the reason for his release. 

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During the season opener in Aragon, rumblings already began to surface about Cresson’s ‘partners’ not receiving the finance they were promised. 

Team owner Lucio Pedercini has since confirmed that contractual issues were the reason for Cresson’s departure: "Contractual problems arose and progress was not possible," Pedercini told Corsedimoto.”

Leon Haslam set for WorldSBK return? 

After leaving WorldSBK at the end of 2021, it looks like an immediate return is possible for the British rider. 

Haslam, who made his official return to British Superbike last weekend at Silverstone, is already scheduled to take part in four wildcard rounds later in the year, however, that now appears to have been extended. 

Pedercini continued by saying: "Leon is a friend of mine. So I called him and asked if he was available for this race and he said yes. He's supposed to have four meetings with us anyway that don't conflict with his BSB obligations. Now we've added races."

While all signs point to Haslam returning this weekend, an official confirmation from the team is still to be announced. 

Should Cresson have been released for a lack of results prior to financial disagreements?

The lack of financial agreements being met is just one of the issues that led to Cresson’s short WorldSBK career thus far. 

The other, and perhaps most alarming for the former WorldSSP rider was his inability to be competitive throughout his rookie campaign, which also carried on to Aragon two weeks ago. 

In his 38 WorldSBK races Cresson scored points on just one occasion which came at Assen last season. 

So while it was a surprise to see Cresson retained by the team for 2022, his release could arguably have been merited for performance-related issues prior to these latest set of events.

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This is an ongoing news story. Crash.net will continue to bring you updates as and when they are available.