The 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship kicked off in style at the stunning Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit where several rookies made their debut. With the track providing unique challenges for riders, machines, and tyres, it’s always difficult for debutants to show their potential as the season kicks off, but three rookies were able to score points across the Australian Round; perhaps giving a glimpse of their potential as they gain more experience.

MONTELLA IN THE TOP TEN: the #5 impresses in Australia

Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) headed into his first WorldSBK campaign after finishing third in WorldSSP last year, securing a WorldSBK seat with the Barni Ducati outfit. Montella was quick throughout winter testing and was able to convert that throughout the round. He was 13^th in Tissot Superpole but only seven tenths away from the front row, although he didn’t finish Race 1 after a crash in the opening couple of laps. In the Tissot Superpole Race, the #5 secured his first top-ten result as he finished in P8, before claiming P9 in Race 2 to cap off a strong first weekend.

Talking about his first weekend, Montella said after Race 2: “I really enjoyed Sunday. It was a good day for us. After Saturday’s crash at Turn 1, we needed something like this because, after the work from myself and the team, improving session by session, it was important to end the weekend this way. I’m so, so proud and happy for what we did because I enjoyed Race 2 a lot. I was fighting with names like Lowes, Bassani, Locatelli… I was behind my teammate Petrucci. I was able to follow them. It was something new for me, but it was something to be proud of and the work we did. We achieved our goal which was to finish in the top ten.”

VICKERS SCORES IN THE LONG RACES: the Brit overcomes challenging weekend to score points

Ryan Vickers (Motocorsa Racing) is another rookie who has been quick throughout testing, and he showed glimpses of what he could achieve in Australia. However, crashes in FP1, FP2, and FP3 left him on the back foot heading into Superpole. He claimed 16^th on the grid, just three places behind Montella. In Race 1, the #17 took 13^th place to secure his first WorldSBK points before following that up with 15^th in Race 2; he finished in the same position in the Superpole Race but didn’t score points.

Discussing his points-scoring weekend, Vickers stated: “The first round here at Phillip Island is over. I’m really happy with these first races in WorldSBK because we managed to score points on both Saturday and Sunday. Phillip Island is a very tough circuit, so achieving these results makes me quite satisfied. I’m the rookie with the least experience on this track, but despite that, we were able to improve. Race 2 was good...I made a mistake on the first lap and lost a few positions, otherwise, we could have finished at least P13 again.”

SOFOUGOLU’S DEBUT POINT: 15^th in Race 1 for the Turkish star

The Sofuoglu name returned to the WorldSBK grid for the first time since 2008 as Bahattin Sofuoglu (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) made his debut onboard a Yamaha R1. Heading into the round, he was recovering from surgery on a collarbone injury he sustained after a crash at Portimao, the #99 was often matching teammate Tito Rabat throughout the weekend and he scored his only point of the round in Race 1; the first time a Sofuoglu has scored points since Kenan finished ninth in Race 2 at Magny-Cours in 2008.

Reflecting on his debut point, the one-time WorldSSP race winner said on Saturday: “Scoring points in my debut WorldSBK race was the goal for me and the team and so I’m happy we did that. I was cautious over the first laps, studying my rivals and trying to conserve the tyres. As soon as I felt I had more confidence with the bike, I made a few passes and then came into pit lane for the tyre change. We weren’t perfect in terms of the tyre change. Once back on track, the bike seemed twitchier, but I was able to maintain my pace and finish 15^th in the end.”

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