He was runner-up in 2004, and has won races in both Grand Prix in 500cc engine capacity classification and the Superbike World Championship.

Results were strong early in the season, however he was seriously injured when he crashed heavily during the opening moments of the first practice of the Kyalami round of the World Superbike Championship.

Laconi has undergone surgery to clasp his cervical vertebrae back together and it is expected he will remain immobile for some time.

Laconi returned for an exploratory test for the DFX Corse Ducati Team at Misano in June 2010 following his horrific crash at Kyalami in 2009.

But any thoughts of returning to racing for the moment are premature and totally groundless.The friendship that ties Regis to team manager Daniele Carli enabled the test to take place.