Hodgson new Ducati tester

The 2003 World Superbike champion has replaced the injured Shinichi Ito in the role and could ride the GP07 for the first time this week.

British star Hodgson, 33, told MCN: "I'm well chuffed for a couple of reasons. Number one is that I want to ride a bike as soon as I can and number two is no matter how much training you do, there is no substitute for doing laps, which I'll be doing lots of in testing.

"It's a great opportunity to get dialled in and if the need arises to substitute for somebody, I'll be ready."

Hodgson, who raced in Moto GP from 1994-1995 and again in 2004, has been without a ride since Ducati withdrew their works team from the US-based AMA Superbike Championship at the end of last year.

Since then, his planned return to World Superbikes fell apart as Carl Fogarty, who planned to run the former champion on a year-old Ducati, failed to find the cash to keep his team in the championship.