World superbike champion Neil Hodgson will ride for Ducati in the MotoGP championship next season, Team d'Antin confirmed at the Valencia Grand Prix on Saturday. Briton Hodgson ran away with the superbike title for Ducati this year and his departure, although not a surprise, is another big blow to the series.

"It's a fantastic opportunity for me racing against the very best riders in the World," said Hodgson who raced in the 500cc World Championship up till 1995 when he took up Superbike Racing. " It will be tough but I'm really looking forward to a new challenge. I respect all the MotoGP riders but I'm not overawed by any of them. When Carl Fogarty was World Superbike Champion he never switched to MotoGP and so I'm glad to be able to have the opportunity to compete against the likes of Valentino Rossi."

The Superbike championship has lost former champions Colin Edwards and Troy Bayliss as well as several manufacturers to grand prix racing over the last couple of years.

Team d'Antin, which was a customer of Yamaha this year, will race two 2003 Desmosedici bikes in the 2004 championship.

They will be the first customers for Ducati since the Italian manufacturer returned to the grand prix circuit this season after three decades away.

" We are very pleased to begin this new adventure with Ducati and Neil Hodgson," said Team Owner Luis d'Antin. " We are certain the arrival of the Desmosedici Ducati will enable our team to achieve some brilliant results that will help contribute to the ever-increasing spectacle in the top class of motorcycle racing."

Claudio Domenicali, Ducati Corse managing director, declared: “Right from the start of the MotoGP project, we decided that we would make our bikes available to other teams. It gives us great pleasure therefore to announce that we will now also be present in this championship with a satellite team – Team d´Antin – which demonstrates that the Desmosedici is already a very competitive bike.”

The team have yet to announce who will partner Hodgson, but his Ducati team mate in superbikes this season, Spain's Ruben Xaus, could be in the frame. Hodgson last rode in grands prix in the 500cc class in 1995.