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The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship begins in just over a week and with it comes plenty of intrigue and excitement about the order of things when racing starts. Testing can tell us so much but the real order will be defined when racing gets underway and, until then, both BMW and Honda will be aiming to make steps forward to ensure their package can challenge consistently for podiums and wins after the pair finished fourth and fifth out of five in last year’s Manufacturers’ Championship.

A NEW BIKE FOR BMW: a new homologation for the M 1000 RR

One of the big stories was BMW bringing a new homologation for factory riders Scott Redding (ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and teammate Michael van der Mark, as well as Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) and his teammate Loris Baz. The big visual change comes at the front of the M 1000 RR with a massively redefined aero packing aiming to provide more downforce to help with turning. There are other refinements to inside the bike as they look to add to their three podiums from 2022 this season.

BMW for this season have also switched brake supplier, opting to use Brembo in 2023 after running with Nissin previously. Other changes include a new gearbox to allow for quicker upshifts and downshifts when going through the gears, while the engine mounting point has been revised for 2023; this was BMW’s super concession for 2022 and has been incorporated into the new M 1000 RR for 2023.

UPGRADES FOR HONDA: chassis weld points, engine specs and swingarms

Like every manufacturer, Honda have brought upgrades for 2023 as they look to refine their CBR10000RR-R machine. They have been able to test new calipers from brake supplier Nissin ahead of the season, as well as different engine specifications and modified swingarms. The super concession from last year was a new weld point on the chassis, giving Honda more variation with their potential geometry settings. The Japanese manufacturer also tried different electronic strategies to help with grip coming out of corners during testing.

LOOKING UP: can they take a step forward in 2023?

After BMW finished fourth in 2022 and Honda fifth, both will be looking to close the gap to Ducati, Yamaha and Kawasaki or mix it up with last year’s top three on a consistent basis. Both have kept the same line-up as 2022, although BMW will be able to count on a fully fit van der Mark in 2023, while there’s a change at BMW’s satellite team: Gerloff comes in to replace Eugene Laverty, who’s transitioned to a rider coach and co-owner at the team. Redding will have his second season on the M 1000 RR, as will Baz, while Lecuona and Vierge will both start their second campaign in WorldSBK. Will the consistency in line-ups at the factory teams, as well as the upgrades brought in over the winter, be enough to challenge for the rostrum regularly? In 2022, BMW took three podiums, all with Redding, while Lecuona took Honda’s only rostrum visit as well as their only pole position.

THE VERDICT: Camier and Bongers discuss 2023…

Looking ahead to 2023 and outlining BMW’s goals for 2023, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director Marc Bongers, at the Portimao test, said: “You have to never stop challenging, and that’s our motto. It’s a very strong field this year and I think it’s going to be an absolutely great Championship. You’ve seen over the last couple of years the Championship has got faster and faster, the races get faster every year. We need to keep up and then catch up which is not an easy task. The tests so far have been fairly difficult but there are definitely tracks that come to our performance and I’m convinced can repeat the podiums and, with a bit of luck, catch some wins as well.”

During the Team HRC launch, Team Manager Leon Camier, said on Honda’s new items and a potential battle with BMW: “In Jerez, we were concentrating on testing items and Portimao was to try and understand the performance of these items a little bit more. It didn’t go that smoothly, to be honest. We had a few little things that came up over the test that didn’t really allow us to get the best from our package. I think, with some races under our belt, we will understand our bike, or the potential of where we are, a little bit more. With BMW, it’s hard to say. They have a new homologation, a new bike, but in the tests they weren’t particularly strong. I think it’s quite difficult at the moment to assess where we are. We’re quite confident we’ve made a step with our package. Whether it’s enough to fight for a Championship, we will see, or fight for wins. To compare with BMW, in the tests so far I would say we were ahead of them and we were stronger. There were a lot of tyres being used so it wasn’t a really good comparison for where we are. I think we will understand in the first two rounds and then when we get back to Europe. I think things will start to become clear then where our position is at the minute.”

THE GOLDEN ERA CONTINUES: watch the 2023 WorldSBK campaign unfold in style using the WorldSBK VideoPass!