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The wait is over: the World Superbike Championship is ready to tackle the first round of the 2025 season at Phillip Island (HERE is the weekend schedule). An appointment that will begin to dissolve some of the doubts left after the last tests of this winter which were battered by bad weather. Giving a first taste of what could be the on-track form factor in this new year, in which Toprak Razgatlioglu will be aiming to repeat his championship-winning 2024 season with BMW.
Bulega vs. Razgatlioglu, the second act begins.
It will not be the reigning champion, however, who will show up on the grid as the candidate for victory, at least as far as this round in Australia is concerned. Indeed, the pre-season tests, and the last two days of testing at Phillip Island in particular, have thrown up Nicolò Bulega and the Ducati Aruba as the duo to beat in the opening Round of the season.
Fast and consistent in each of his outings, the Emilian rider has shown that he is in top form and has an excellent feeling both with his Panigale V4R and with the track located in the state of Victoria, where he managed to win already on his championship debut. The two-time world champion, on the other hand, arrives at the first round of the season battered by the bad highside suffered on Monday and with an M 1000 RR still to be perfectly tuned. Small inconveniences that will certainly not exclude him from the fight for the top positions, but that could make the game for the victory even more hard-fought.
Bautista, Iannone and Petrucci: three more arrows to Ducati's bow.
Indeed, Andrea Iannone and Alvaro Bautista, candidates for the role of Bulegas' chief rival, are not be to be underestimated either. Although the winter tests did not go exactly according to the plans of the Go Eleven rider, who failed to use even one qualifying tyre in Australia, the man from Abruzzo is not far from Nicolò in terms of race pace. The desire for redemption of the Spanish rider, on the other hand, is extremely high especially seeing as on the friendly track of Phillip Island he has begun to regain the confidence and sensations he had two years ago riding the V4R.
Among Borgo Panigale's spearheads there will also be Danilo Petrucci, intent on confirming himself as the best of the Independent riders for the second consecutive year. Staying with Ducati, there is no shortage of curiosity surrounding Sam Lowes, in his second year in Superbike with the Marc VDS team, and even more so about Scott Redding. The current rider of the MGM Bonovo Racing team, the 32-year-old Briton will return to race in Australia on a Panigale for the first time since the Opening Round of 2020, in which he took three podiums in his World Championship debut, and he could be one of the possible surprises of this early season.
Lowes and the Bimota, possible outsiders
After an excellent preseason, there can only be a lot of expectations also surrounding Bimota, making its return to World Superbike with the KB998s entrusted to Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes. On a track where he has always been fast, and can boast three career victories, special attention will have to be paid to the British rider, who seems to have all the right credentials to give the Italian manufacturer some satisfaction right away. Perhaps taking advantage of some assists handed to him by the crazy Australian weather, or the unknown factor represented by the flag-to-flag.
In the light of the double win achieved by Kawasaki in 2024 with Alex Lowes, Garrett Gerloff too can also only hope to start his adventure on the Ninja ZX-10RR with a worthy result. A bike with which he has been comfortable since the first winter tests.
Yamaha and Honda, operation redemption
With Jonathan Rea forced to throw in the towel momentarily due to the injury to his left foot sustained in Monday's nasty crash, Andrea Locatelli will once again be Yamaha's lead rider this year. Accompanied by the two GRT team men, Remy Gardner and Dominique Aegerter, the rider from Bergamo can only aim to give some satisfaction to the Iwata manufacturer after a 2024 to forget.
Continuing to improve, building on the progress made in the second half of last season, on the other hand, will be the goal with which Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge will line up on the grid on the Honda HRC team's CBR1000RR-Rs. For the round at Phillip Island, Honda will also be in action with Tetsuta Nagashima as a wild card.
Montella, Vickers, Sofuoglu and Zaidi: four new faces at the start of the World Championship.
Looking at what's new on the grid this season, one cannot fail to mention the four rookies making their official World Superbike debut. Prominent among them are Motocorsa team rider Ryan Vickers and the Barni Racing standard bearer Yari Montella. The latter is ready to join Danilo Petrucci in the premier class, after defending the colors of the Bergamo-based team for two years in World Supersport.
In addition to the two Ducatisti, who particularly stood out during winter testing, we will also see Bahattin Sofuoglu in action at Phillip Island, riding the R1 of the Motoxracing team. The young Turkish rider will not be in top form, however, due to a collarbone injury suffered at Portimao. On the other hand, Malaysian Zaqhwan Zaidi will complete the MIE team's lineup, flanking the confirmed Tarran Mackenzie.
