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At Jerez things are starting to get serious! On Wednesday, January 22 and Thursday, January 23, the World Superbike Championship will once again fire up its engines on the Andalusian track, for the first collective challenge of this 2025.
It's the first useful opportunity to begin to get an idea of the potential of teams and riders in this new year. Although we will have to wait for the next tests in Portimao, or more likely in Phillip Island, to also see the World Champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu, in action. As we know, the Turkish rider will not be able to take part in this two-day test in Spain, due to the fracture of the index finger of his right hand suffered in an accident during a training session with an enduro bike.
Carrying on the work at a particularly delicate time for BMW, whose season could be affected by the decision of FIM and Dorna regarding the chassis it deployed with the Superconcessions, will therefore be the two test team riders, Markus Reiterberger and Sylvain Guintoli. They will also be joined by Michael van der Mark, who is expected to ride only on Wednesday, however.
Bautista, and more, looking for redemption
It will therefore be the times of the Dutchman and the two test riders from the German manufacturer that Nicolò Bulega and Alvaro Bautista will have to keep an eye on, in order to make an initial assessment of the potential expressed by the M 1000 RR with the new updates developed by BMW. It will not be a direct confrontation with the reigning Champion, but still useful information. Especially for the Spanish champion, called upon to get back to the top after a 2024 season in which he struggled to find the right feeling on a Ducati weighed down by ballast.
Just like Bautista, Jonathan Rea will also try to recover from a nightmarish season. The Northern Irishman will take to the track with the clear objective of making progress on the Yamaha R1, supported by his teammate, Andrea Locatelli, and the two GRT team riders, Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner. Also in action at Jerez will be the Motoxracing team's two new riders, Tito Rabat and Bahattin Sofuoglu, who round out a Yamaha ranks looking for steps forward after a difficult 2024.
Turning our gaze back to Ducati, Scott Redding, in action on the MGM team's Ducati V4 R, and Sam Lowes, in his second year riding the independent Panigale of the Marc VDS team, will also be on the search for a revival. Andrea Iannone and Danilo Petrucci, on the other hand, will try to regain confidence right away with the Rosse of the Go Eleven and Barni teams, and with their respective revamped teams, to find the set-up with which to best start the championship after an excellent 2024.
Eyes on the rookies and the Bimota.
There is also a lot of curiosity surrounding Yari Montella and Ryan Vickers, the second rider of the Barni Spark Racing team and the new Motocorsa standard bearer, who together with Sofuoglu and Zaqhwan Zaidi (MIE rider along with the confirmed Tarran Mackenzie), form the quartet of rookies at the start of this new World Superbike season.
Continuing to talk about newcomers, there is also a lot of anticipation to see Garrett Gerloff on the factory Kawasaki fielded by Manuel Puccetti's Kawasaki WorldSBK Team. And even more so with respect to the Bimota KB998s brought to the track by Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes, which impressed well in the tests in November held at the same Jerez track. To continue fine-tuning the new bike in the best possible way, the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team will be able to count not only on the data accumulated on Wednesday and Thursday by the two official riders, but also on that stored by its two new test riders, Xavi Fores and Xavi Artigas. Who will take to the track today along with Florian Marino, involved in his last test session for the team.
It should also not be forgotten that the Andalusian circuit will also see the Honda test team and the two official HRC team riders, Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, in action. Ready to restart from the progress made in the last part of last season, to put themselves among the protagonists of this 2025.
