Dovizioso: "Toprak showed how strong and fast he is… nice to see Bulega that competitive in his first year"
The MotoGP™ Legend was in Italy and gave us his thoughts on an unforgettable 2024 season, with Dovizioso full of praise for Razgatlioglu and Bulega in particular
With the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign in the history books, several big-name figures have been reflecting on the incredible season. One of these is MotoGP™ Legend Andrea Dovizioso who gave his insights into 2024 and his predictions for 2025 while speaking at EICMA in Milan last week.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) claimed his second WorldSBK title in an unforgettable season, while it was also BMW’s first Championship. He was pushed all the way by Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) who had a stunning rookie campaign as he fought for the title, while a remarkable eight different winners claimed victory: Razgatlioglu, Bulega, Alex Lowes, Nicholas Spinelli, Alvaro Bautista, Michael van der Mark, Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Iannone.
There were also four different polesitters – Razgatlioglu, Bulega, Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea – while 13 riders stood on the podium. Aside from the eight winners, Andrea Locatelli, Garrett Gerloff, Remy Gardner, Iker Lecuona and Rea claimed rostrum finishes. It was an unbelievable season of action and ‘Dovi’, while visiting the historic EICMA show in Italy, gave his thoughts on the 2024 season.
The 15-time MotoGP™ race winner reviewed the campaign by saying: “I always follow every race, even if I don’t see it live, I record everything because I want to see everything. Toprak and BMW did something special and crazy. BMW improved but Toprak showed how strong he is and how fast he is because, last year with Yamaha, he did something really good. This year, with BMW, he did it again. It was nice to see him at that level with a different brand. It was really nice to see Bulega that competitive in his first year in WorldSBK. Next year will be interesting. I think Toprak and BMW will become even stronger next year so it’ll be a bit difficult for the competitors. The battles at the front are always really good.”
Attention has already turned to 2025 in WorldSBK with teams testing at Jerez just days after the season ended, while a planned outing for Bimota and BMW at Aragon was halted due to rain. Although not every manufacturer has been out on track for 2025 testing yet – Yamaha will test in a couple of weeks – the 2004 125cc World Champion gave an idea of what he is predicting for the 2025 season.
Giving a brief prediction, Dovizioso said: “After the first year, Toprak and BMW can be better. I know Alvaro is struggling with the weight. I know Alvaro very well; his riding style and mentality makes him a Champion. I hope Yamaha can be a bit stronger. There’s Bimota who were good at the test.”
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