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Phillip Island will play host to the first battle in what’s sure to be an explosive 2025 World Supersport season, with former champions across several different competitions up and down the lineup. Defending champion Adrian Huertas has made the move to Moto2™ and now 2025 will feature a talented cadre of World Supersport riders all vying for the crown.

BACK WITH A VENGENCE: Manzi and other big names shooting for the 2025 title

Of the riders who competed last season in WorldSSP, few would leave 2024’s runner-up out of the 2025 title conversation, Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing). While Manzi led the grid in podiums with 19, including five wins and ten second place finishes, Huertas’ six-win consecutive run midseason proved to be too much for Manzi to overcome despite a red-hot three win run to close the season. In 2025, Manzi will look to finally get over the hump and win the WorldSSP title after finishing as the runner-up two years running.

Finishing fifth in the Riders’ Championship, if Marcel Schroetter (WRP Racing) can put together a similar season as last year while taking a slight step forward, he can be a dangerous title contender. He was featured on the rostrum four times thanks to his red-hot start to the 2024 season, earning second-place finishes in Race 2’s at both Phillip Island and Catalunya, and third place finishes in Race 1’s at the same circuits. The question around the track will be whether he can replicate or improve on this result on his new Ducati setup, if so, he will prove a formidable contender.

Also new to Ducati machinery will be Dutch rider Glenn van Straalen, (D34G WorldSSP Racing Team) who last year rode on a Yamaha and despite a handful of DNF’s in the second half of the year, finished eighth in the Championship standings on the back of among other strong results, a win at Assen in Race 2. Federico Caricasulo (Motozoo ME air racing) will feature in 2025, his ninth season in the competition, earning 42 podiums across those years. His best finish in the rider’s championship was a runner-up finish in 2019, however he has been consistently around the podium, having finished fifth three times, and fourth in 2023. Another rider who may turn heads in 2025 might be fellow Dutchman Bo Bendsneyder, (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) he made his WorldSSP debut in 2024, earning a third-place podium in the final race of the season, and just his fourth appearance in the championship. Prior to this season, he was racing with Moto2™ since 2018, from 2021 on as a part of Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team.

TALENTED NEWCOMERS: The WorldSSP grid is getting talented reinforcements to what is already a star-studded paddock.

After three years in WorldSBK, from 2022 and 2023 on a Ducati and 2024 on a Yamaha, Phillip Oettl (Feel Racing WorldSSP Team) is back to WorldSSP where he will hope to pick up where he left off in 2020 and 2021, finishing third and fifth respectively. He will be competing with Feel Racing WorldSSP Team on their Ducati bike, the manufacturer with which he saw his most successful year in 2022’s WorldSBK campaign. His return to WorldSSP will shake up the grid as while Oettl stood out with the talent he displayed in 2020 and 2021, three years in a different championship and a different manufacturer will provide unique challenges to the German rider, however the team formerly known as Aruba.it Racing- Ducati are the 2x defending WorldSSP Champions after propelling Nicolo Bulega in ’23 and Adrian Huertas to Riders’ Championships, so Oettl will have a high-caliber team around him.

Oettl is not alone in his change from WorldSBK to WorldSSP, Michael Rinaldi (GMT94-YAMAHA) moving to the World Supersport Championship will make his WorldSSP debut after seven seasons in WorldSBK. 2021-2023 were his best years in the competition, winning 20 podiums across that period. The Italian rider and Rimini native will look to showcase his talent he showed those years and earlier, in 2017’s Superstock 1000 when he won the title.

Not all of WorldSSP’s new blood comes from WorldSBK, however, two of our rookies come from other competitions. Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) is arriving from Moto2™ and Aldi Mahendra (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team) is ascending to WorldSSP as the WorldSSP 300 defending Riders’ Champion. Masia distinguished himself by winning the 2023 Moto3™ World Championship and raced for a season in Moto2™. Mahendra, for his part, broke onto the scene when he placed second in the FIM Yamaha BLU CRU World Cup, earning a spot on the 2024 WorldSSP 300 grid, going on to win eight podiums and later the Riders’ Championship of that category.

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