News

Grids across three Championships within the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship are starting to take shape with several announcements for both WorldSSP and WorldSSP300. With the WorldSBK grid almost full – read the silly season details here – attention is turning to see who will race in the middleweight and lightweight classes.

WORLD SUPERSPORT: Rinaldi and Oettl joins from WorldSBK, Manzi stays as Mahendra secures promotion

Two big seats were filled with the announcements that former WorldSBK riders would join World Supersport. Philipp Oettl will link up with the Feel Racing WorldSSP Team, which ran Nicolo Bulega in 2022 and 2023 and Adrian Huertas in 2024 under the Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team banner. Lucas Mahias remains with GMT94 Yamaha as the Japanese brand introduces the R9 machine into competition. Stefano Manzi will continue with the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing Team for next year, aiming to go one better than he did this season. Michael Ruben Rinaldi will join Mahias at GMT94 Yamaha, while Aldi Mahendra steps up to WorldSSP with the Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Teamalongside class veteran Can Oncu, who will have his first season in the Championship not on Kawasaki machinery. Elsewhere, Manzi will be joined by Yuta Okamoto, who moves across from the All Japan Road Racing championship where he won the JSB1000 title.

OTHER WorldSSP SIGNINGS: Alcoba, Bendsneyder and Veneman form growing rookies list

Elsewhere in WorldSSP, Tom Booth-Amos was announced as staying with PTR Triumph after a stellar 2024 where he claimed his first podium, and he’ll have a new teammate for 2025 as Oli Bayliss joins the team. Federico Caricasulo remains with Motozoo ME AIR Racing for a second campaign on the MV Agusta, while teammate Luke Power signed for 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile, at MV Agusta Reparto Corse, Bo Bendsneyder came in for the final two rounds to help prepare for 2025 and he’ll be joined by Filippo Farioli, who makes the step across from Moto3™.  At the Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team, Valentin Debise announced on his social media that he wouldn’t continue with the team into 2025, before securing a ride with Renzi Corse. Jorge Navarro will continue with the Orelac Racing VerdNatura team in 2025 after a successful part-campaign in 2024. He’ll be joined next year by Andorran rider Xavi Cardelus.

Jeremy Alcoba will make the step across to WorldSSP on Kawasaki’s new machine for 2025 as he joins the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team. VFT Racing announced that Niccolo Antonelli would race for them in 2025 on the Yamaha R9. Two more teams announced their plans at the start of November too, with the Ecosantagata Althea Racing squad confirming Simon Jespersen for a full season, alongside Leonardo Taccini. As well as that, there’s an exciting graduation for Loris Veneman, with the WorldSSP300 runner-up from 2024 moving up to WorldSSP with the Dutch EAB Racing Team for 2025, following in his father’s footsteps. Elsewhere, the WRP outfit have announced a switch to Ducati machinery for 2025 with Marcel Schroetter joining Ondrej Vostatek in 2025. The D34G Racing WorldSSP Teamannounced a completely new line-up for 2025, with Glenn van Straalen and Eduardo Montero, with the latter competing in the WorldSSP Challenge. The QJMOTOR Factory Racing announced an expanded two-bike line-up for 2025, with Niki Tuuli joining Raffaele De Rosa. Ana Carrasco will make her WorldSSP debut in 2025 with the 2024 WorldWCR Champion linking up with the Honda France team alongside Corentin Perolari.

WORLD SUPERSPORT 300: Buis and Tonn remain with KTM

Double Champion Jeffrey Buis will stick with the Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing team for a second season after a race-winning campaign in 2024. He’ll be joined again by Phillip Tonn on the KTM RC 390 R. After impressing during his wildcard appearances, Antonio Torres will remain on the grid in 2025 after inking a deal with the ProDina Kawasaki Racing squad, joining race winner David Salvador. With Veneman moving up, there’s now a clear space at the MTM Kawasaki squad, whilst the Accolade Smrz Racing BGR outfit which took part in the final round of the ESBK300 championship at Jerez has announced that they will be keeping Kevin Sabatucci, and as his teammate they are promoting a promising young talent in 17-year-old Filip Novotny, who made his debut last year. The Arco Sash Motor University Team announced Unai Calatayud would stay with the team for 2025, and he’ll be joined by Gonzalo Sanchez. At MTM Kawasaki, Mirko Gennai remains with the team and is joined by 2024’s super sub, Carter Thompson. The MTM squad will also run the Kawasaki Junior Team by MTM, which will run Petr Svoboda and Roberto Fernandez.

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