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This season’s MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship grid features a new team, several rookie riders, plenty of returning riders moving to new teams, and a new bike for the defending Champions! The iconic Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto hosts two days of crucial testing on Tuesday and Wednesday as teams refine their package and riders get up to speed, but could the weather throw a spanner into the mix with rain forecast?

BMW’S NEW BIKE: The new M 1000 RR will have its first test against the competition, but Razgatlioglu misses out

The ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team look to begin 2025 with the same pace they ended the 2024 campaign with, and on the back of their new M 1000 RR, the German manufacturer make a strong bid.  The defending Riders’ Champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu suffered a broken finger earlier in the offseason, which will rule him out of Jerez’s test, and at their team launch on January 15^th, the team clarified that they hope he’ll return to action at Portimao the following week. This will mean that Michael van der Mark will be BMW’s lone rider, who has expressed excitement with the M 1000 RR’s upgrades, with Jerez providing a good chance to assess the bike against the competition; test team Markus Reiterberger and Sylvain Guintoli will also be in action.

REDDING’S DUCATI RETURN: first time atop a Ducati since 2021, Gerloff’s first season with Kawasaki draws closer

Scott Redding will make a return to the Italian manufacturer which he made his WorldSBK debut with back in 2020 after three seasons with BMW. The English rider had the most successful seasons of his career atop a Ducati, fighting for victories and podiums and mounting title challenges. Redding is not the only returning WorldSBK rider who will find himself atop a new bike, Garrett Gerloff will be riding with the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team after two seasons with BMW and three seasons with Yamaha prior, though he has been on the ZX-10RR at Jerez twice already in testing. The #31 will have new parts and set-up options to test at Jerez. Ducati will be featured heavily throughout the grid this season, apart from Redding, seven other Panigales will be taking to the track, including: Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven), Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) Danilo Petrucci and Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team), and Ryan Vickers (Motocorsa Racing) – all of whom will be at the test.

LOOKING TO MAKE EARLY GAINS: Bautista’s ‘reset’, Yamaha aiming to take a step

While Ducati secured their 20^th Manufacturers’ title, Alvaro Bautista, Nicolo Bulega and Aruba.it Racing – Ducati came up short in the Riders’ Championship, finishing third and second respectively. Following the post-season testing in October 2024, Alvaro Bautista commented on how he wanted a ‘reset’ in regards to his Panigale V4R, now, rested and reset, the two-time world champion will look to get back into race form alongside his breakout star teammate, Nicolo Bulega. Jonathan Rea (Pata Yamaha) had a season to forget last year with one podium and 13^th in the standings, but he’ll be hoping his second season on the R1 starts more positively alongside teammate Andrea Locatelli. The GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team will have the same line-up for a third year, with Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner both in action at Jerez as they aim to help Yamaha take a step forwards.

2025 ROOKIES: Sofuoglu, Zaidi, Montella, Vickers

The Jerez test will be the first time some riders are spotted in WorldSBK, with Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) joining teammate Petrucci in the team’s two-rider effort. 25-year-old Montella hails from Oliveto Citra, Italy, and is making the move to WorldSBK after a red-hot year in WorldSSP, finishing third. Bahattin Sofuoglu will make his debut alongside Tito Rabat with the Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team, with Rabat competing for this third manufacturer in WorldSBK. Zaqhwan Zaidi will compete for the first time in WorldSBK with the PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team, alongside Tarran Mackenzie, after three seasons competing in the Asia Superbike championship, winning the competition in 2022. Ryan Vickers will represent Team Motocorsa Racing as their sole rider in 2025. Already having debuted in WorldSBK in 2022 as a replacement rider for Leon Haslam, Vickers has proven his talent in British Superbikes, winning his first race in 2022 with Yamaha, and looks to replicate that success at the next level.

CONTINUITY IS KEY: no rider line-up changes but testing is important all the same…

bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team will maintain their racing duo from last year’s Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK, with Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani testing the KB998 across the two days, although the team will acquire some data early on: two new test riders – Xavi Fores and Xavi Artigas – will be on track on Tuesday, alongside Florian Marino, in his last test session for the team, before Lowes and Bassani test on Wednesday and Thursday. Team HRC ended 2024 well and will be hoping 2025 starts in the same way for riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, the latter of whom will have a new crew chief following Gorka Segura’s move to Sam Lowes' team.

QJ’s WORLD SUPERSPORT CHALLENGE: The Chinese manufacturer prepare for their WorldSSP challenge entry

QJMOTOR Factory Racing will field a two-rider line-up for 2025, with two experienced heads: Raffaele De Rosa and Niki Tuuli. They will be at Jerez with the current SRK 800 RR as well as a new prototype they aim to use later on. Also at the test will be the Kawasaki World Supersport Team on the newly-introduced Kawasaki Z6- 636 and debutant Jeremy Alcoba. Up against QJMOTOR and the new Kawasaki, former WorldSBK rider Phillip Oettl will be making the transition back to WorldSSP with the Feel Racing WorldSSP Team atop their Ducati Panigale V2.

See these various storylines play out all season long with the WorldSBK Video Pass!