The FIM World Superbike championship has released the rider line up for the 2025 season for all three premier classes. Defending World Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu will make his return with ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team. The listing is as follows:
With the top 3 in the championship already decided before the superpole race and race2. Sunday was more of a formality to close out the 2024 World Superbike championship season. Nicolo Bulega won the superpole race and Toprak Ragatlioglu won the final race of the season in true champion form. Razgatlioglu said, “I want to say thank you to the entire BMW family because we had an incredible year. The season finale was an amazing event. We are World Champions – this was the end to a very long season and a very successful year in which we also had 13 wins in a row. We never gave up, and also today after the sprint race, we were working hard with the team. We changed the set-up of the bike and we tried something to get the win.
In the race, I had a very good package and we did it – we won again. And I wanted to win the last race of the season. Usually Ducati is very strong here but we beat them again so everybody understood that BMW is really strong at all race weekends. It was incredible to be on the podium together with Mickey. It was dream, together with the team, to share the podium and it finally came true. He is a very great guy and he is pushing so hard at every race weekend. After his big injury, he is trying to come back and he has shown everyone what a strong rider he is. We are working together very well and I hope that we can race for the podium together again next year.”
Nicolo Bulega Finishes P2 in Rookie Season
Bulega came into the season as a rookie and finished as a top 3 contender ahead of his teammate and last years champion Alvaro Bautista. Bulega said, “I’m pleased with this weekend. It was the best round of an excellent season for me. I think that I have taken at least one podium (24 in total) at every circuit, which fills me with pride. I thank the team for everything they have done for me”.
World Superbike Champion Final Standings
In a season that had ups and downs Toprak Razgatli0glu bounced back from what was seemingly a season threatening break due to injury and has now clinched the championship in Race 1. Despite Nicolo Bulega leading the race from start to finish Razgatlioglu’s entering point advantage proved to be too far out of reach.
Razgatlioglu’s move to BMW has proved to be the missing key that he needed after falling short last year with Yamaha. He said, “I feel like a World Champion! I’m not feeling any stress. For me, the season’s finished now; we have two more races tomorrow, but I’ll just be enjoying it. It’s been a long season. Nobody believed me or the BMW, but finally they understand we’re World Champions. This is incredible, especially with BMW; they’ve never won the title. Finally, I got my second title and BMW got their first!”
Speaking on the crash that could have ended his season Toprak said, “Maybe the title fight finished in Italy if I didn’t crash at Magny-Cours or maybe Estoril. After the crash, I had a big injury and missed two races: France and Italy. When I came back to Aragon, I kept fighting for the world title. If I didn’t come back at Aragon, I think we’d lose the title. It’s not been an easy three or four weeks after the injury. I went to Austria for the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center, and I kept working to come back quickly. Sometimes we’re lucky, sometimes we’re not. When I crashed in France, I learnt things. If we’re fighting for the world title next year, if we have a big gap, I need to be more careful in the last races.”
His season was eerily similar to the dominant performance from Alvaro Bautista in 2023 where it came down to an end of the season push to secure the top spot. With his job done the battle behind for second between teammate Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista is also over. Bulega holds a 96 point lead and the final two races of the season are a formality at this point.
Race 1 Results from Jerez
The race at the front of the World Superbike championship continued this weekend between Nicolo Bulega and Toprak Razgatlioglu. After a day one win by Razgatlioglu the battle would continue in the Superpole race and Race 2. Bulega got the advantage in the super pole race but Razgatlioglu walked away from the weekend with a bigger point lead than he came in with due to also winning race 2. With that lead Razgatlioglu’s path to the 2024 championship got a lot easier as he will go into the final round with a 46 point lead.
Razgatlioglu said, “I am really happy today, especially with race two. We did not manage three wins this weekend, but almost, as it was very close in the Superpole race. There, I also used the race tire because I thought that the Q tire would drop at the end. I had incredible pace with the race tire but when I saw the checkered flag I had lost the race. I was surprised that the Q tire didn’t drop while my tire started to spin a lot.
Nicolo had a big advantage in the last corner and I kept fighting and it was very close. But we got good points for the championship and I won both long races. They are always more difficult because you need to manage the tire and your pace. I did a very good job. To get the wins again after the big injury is really good for me and now we will see what happens at Jerez. I am pretty relaxed because I have a good points lead.
I will just try to enjoy Jerez…I don’t need to win at Jerez – and maybe I will win there, too…Ducati is very strong there but we improved a lot after the test and I am ready to fight. if I just need a second position in the last race, that’s okay but I am focusing on winning again.”
Three Podiums and in the Fight
Nicolo Bulega took a hit in the championship race after Razgatlioglu won 2 of three races. However Bulega kept his hopes alive for a fighting chance at the final round in with three podiums this weekend. He said, “I’m thrilled with the results this Sunday. In particular, I feel that this morning’s Superpole Race was one of my best races, not only this season. I am pleased to have extended the title fight to Jerez. I think it is an important result for a rookie”.
With a 46 point deficit it will take some divine intervention to knock Razgatlioglu off of the top of the table. With one weekend of racing left to go its now or never for the rookie. Last year’s champion Alvaro Bautista put in a valiant effort in 2024 but is statistically eliminated from championship contention.
Toprak Razgatlioglu has found himself back on the top of the podium after having fallen back as a result of an injury hiatus and recovery getting back up to full race pace. Despite mix conditions throughout the race Razgatlioglu navigated the changing track conditions to take home the win. While Razgatlioglu was not available for comment post race the story of the day was the ascension of Iker Lecuona who secured the first podium of the season for Team HRC.
After multiple struggles plagued the Honda side they’ve finally captured a glimpse of what the future could hold. Lecuona’s P3 finish in race one was the result of a calculated run to the top 3 after mixed conditions prevent him from logging as many laps as he had hoped in qualifying and practice. Lecuona said, “A crazy race! I made a good start and was able to pass some riders through the first turns to move in behind Xavi. I almost crashed coming into contact with Rinaldi which caused me to lose ground, but I recovered and was able to pass many riders.
I felt very strong and knew I had a good level of performance today, but I still didn’t expect a podium as we didn’t have much dry track time to be able to understand the tire life. So I tried to save the tires in some places but also keep the pace. At the end, I thought let’s see if I can catch Locatelli and Bulega and then Andrea made a mistake and I was into P3.”
Lecuona Continued
I couldn’t relax because I knew Alex (Lowes) was close behind me, but I worked hard to maintain my pace as I really wanted the podium. I’m so happy to have done it; when I got onto pit lane, I started to cry. It’s been a very hard year for me, with many injuries, and at times, I’ve even questioned whether I’m good enough to be here, to be honest. But I’ve worked hard, listened to all the people around me who are important to me, and race by race, we’ve been improving and building on our results. I knew the podium was within reach and we’ve finally done it today. I’m so happy and want to thank everyone on HRC and on the Team, my family, my girlfriend, my friends, including my manager, and all those who support me. I’m very happy.”
Nicolo Bulega finished P2. While his title race is not over he certainly needs to find his early season form if he wants to bring the fight back to Razgatlioglu who seemingly is showing no signs of slowing down this weekend.
Race 1 Results from Esotril
World Superbike has released the provisional 2025 season calendar. The season will feature 12 rounds with one new venue to debut with the series next year. Check out next years scheduled below.
2025 FIM World Superbike Championship Schedule
21st-23rd February: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Australia
28th-30th March: Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, Portugal
11th-13th April: TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands
2nd-4th May: Cremona Circuit, Italy
16th-18th May: Autodrom Most, Czechia
13th-15th June: Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, Italy
11th-13th July: Donington Park, UK
25th-27th July: Balaton Park Circuit, Hungary*
5th-7th September: Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
26th-28th September: MotorLand Aragon, Spain
10th-12th October: Circuito Estoril, Portugal
17th-19th October: Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, Spain**
*Subject to homologation
** Subject to contract
The World Superbike grid was shaken up quite a bit today with Andrea Iannone winning the race and throwing a wrench in the World Superbike championship race for the front runners. Race 1 was full of drama with Nicolo Bulega having to sit out due to an issue on the warm up lap and Sam Lowes experiencing a major failure that resulted in a high side crash.
It had been 2967 days since Andrea Iannone had last stepped foot on the podium. 8 years had passed and today he stood on the top of the podium; a poetic finish nonetheless. Iannone said “I am very happy with this victory, which has a very important meaning for me, it is a personal satisfaction, a revenge after the difficult moments we have gone through.
I owe a lot to all the people who have been close to me and who have welcomed me. I thank Gigi Dall’Igna, Claudio Domenicali, Paolo Ciabatti, Marco Zambenedetti, Mauro Grassilli, the whole Go Eleven team and the WorldSBK family. Having won both in MotoGP and WorldSBK is incredible. It is a special moment. This year I have achieved 4 podiums, with this 5, and 1 victory. As a first year back it was difficult to ask for more than this. Now we look with confidence and optimism to tomorrow’s races.”
Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager, Go Eleven): “I still can’t describe today, I don’t have the words, it was an incredible race, which Andrea managed and won with great intelligence. Seeing him ride here in Aragon is amazing, and today even in the garage a perfect job was done, the bike was fast and Iannone rode it perfectly. It was great to see him fight with Danilo and Toprak, I can’t wait for the races to start tomorrow. On the last lap my eyes were shining, because after everything Andrea has been through in the last 4 years, today he took a satisfaction that is worth more than anything in the world, and I was excited for both him and me. I want to thank all the people who support us, our staff, the sponsors and Ducati for this Saturday!”
Razgatlioglu Returns to Podium After Injury Hiatus
Toprak Razgatlioglu got right back to business by securing a P2 finished. Despite his time away missing two rounds Razgatliglu still holds the championship lead over Nicolo Bulega who had a technical failure that removed him from race 1.
Full results
Garrett Gerloff held off Toprak Razgatlioglu in FP2 to finish on top of the table by 0.004s in the combined practice results on day 1 at Aragon. This weekend marks Razgatlioglu’s return after missing two rounds due to injuries he sustained after colliding with a track barrier three rounds ago. However, in the FP2 behind Gerloff it was an all Ducati caravan with Nicolo Bulega leading the rest ahead of Alvaro Bautista and last round’s hat trick winner Danilo Petrucci.
FP2 Results
Danilo Petrucci dominated the weekend winning all three races on his home turf. The triple win marked his first hat trick in World Superbike and the first for his Barni Spark Racing side. Petrucci was big on celebration and short on words. He said, “After last weekend at Magny-Cours with three podiums I didn’t think I could do better, now I can say it out loud: you can’t do better in a weekend! Doing it in a race that for the team is really an hour from home was incredible. I’m very happy to have been able to give Marco Barnabò and his entire team such joy in front of thousands of people and so many sponsors and friends who support us. What else can I say?! It couldn’t have gone better.”
Ducati dominated the top of the table all weekend. With Toprak Razgatlioglu still out with injury the championship race has tightened with Razgatlioglu now only holding a 13 point lead after two weekends of no points. Alvaro Bautista secured himself two podiums this weekend which brought hime back into the championship fight. “It was an intense weekend,” Baustisa said.”When I arrived in Cremona, I wondered if I could race, and today, I closed the round having finished on the podium twice. The feeling was excellent. I hope to replicate this feeling at Aragon and ride with less pain”. Bautista marked his 100th podium in world superbike after finishing P2 in race 2.
Championship Standings
The day has finally come for Danilo Petrucci as he topped the tables in race 1 at Cremona today after a having previously been on the podium 10 times with the win being his 11th. Petrucci has had ups and downs with his Ducati V4R after making the transition form the American MotoAmerica Superbike Championship Series. However, 2024 seems to be the first year where he and the bike have found some positive chemistry. Petrucci as not available for comment after the race.
Ducati dominated the field on day one of racing with Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista rounding out the top 3 for an all Ducati podium. Most impressive was Bautista’s charge form P13 to P3. He said, “It was a difficult Saturday,” began Bautista. “When I pushed more, I felt I was missing some strength in my ribs. In the first few laps I felt pain so could not fight other riders and just tried to stay on bike. So I said after 5 or 6 laps if I still have this feeling I have to retire.
Lap after lap, I started to feel less pain and felt I could move better so could be more aggressive, improve my pace. I could start overtaking. I didn’t expect to finish on the podium, so am really happy. I didn’t even know if I could race this weekend, so to finish on the podium after starting at the back is a really nice feeling. Now I have to recover for tomorrow.”
Full Race 1 Results from Cremona