Ducati exile Davide Giugliano has named the new Puccetti Kawasaki World Superbike squad as his preferred option for the 2017 season but is still exploring other options.

The Roman, who is being replaced at Aruba Ducati by Marco Melandri, believes Manuel Puccetti’s squad will get a lot of support from Kawasaki - the reigning champions and series leader - and says his heart tells him it is the best path.

“Puccetti counts on a very good team – they won the WorldSSP crown last year and are trying to defend it this year with their riders P1 and P2 in the title standings of a very tough category. They have a lot of support from Kawasaki and we’re talking a lot about that,” said Giugliano.

“I consider Manuel to be a great guy too, with great potential, and he has an important team. This is the option I prefer at the moment, and the one my heart tells me is the best. There are still details to define, but we’ll see what happens soon enough. Their offer and what they want to do is very interesting to me.

“There are various options: I have some great options to stay in WorldSBK and also some options in Moto2™. All look good and I’m taking my time not just to evaluate the options but to figure out which is the best for my career. Lately there has been some confusion in the press about this, but there’s still nothing signed and confirmed.

“My heart is in WSBK for a lot of reasons, I started here when I was 15 and now I’m 26 – to change habits and circuits and paddock isn’t easy. But sometimes you have to put yourself first and if you think that change is the way forward, the best thing to do is go for it.”