Loris Capirossi back at Ducati in 2011

Loris Capirossi has confirmed he will make a return to Ducati in next year’s MotoGP world championship.

The Italian veteran has signed a deal to join the Pramac Ducati squad, as had been widely expected for some months.

Capirossi last raced for Ducati when he was with Casey Stoner in the factory team back in 2007 before he embarked on a largely disappointing three-year spell with Suzuki’s factory effort.

The triple world champion said: “This return on a Ducati bike makes me feel like a child. I do not feel my 37 years! I have a great desire to start this new adventure.

“I’m enormously pleased about this new agreement that was reached with the Pramac Racing Team. This will allow me to ride and be part of an Italian team. I would like to thank Paolo Campinoti, for giving me this great opportunity and for the confidence placed in me.

“I’ll find again the Ducati, with whom I had very good results over the past years and that I was able to develop in the 2007. This is a unique sensation for me.

“I thank Suzuki for the years we spent together and thanks also to the excellent relationship maintained with them, they had give me the possibility to race with my new team since Valencia’s test of next month.”

French rider Randy de Puniet is expected to leave the LCR Honda squad and join Capirossi while his place with Lucio Cecchinello’s team will be taken by new Moto2 world champion Toni Elias.