The 2025 World Superbike season will come to a close this weekend in Jerez de la Frontera (HERE the timetable for the weekend, which will also see MotoGP in action in Australia). The track named after Angel Nieto will be the scene of the final head-to-head clash between Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolò Bulega, who arrive in Andalusia separated by 39 points.
With only 62 still to be awarded, Toprak will have the opportunity to win his third crown as early as Race 1, making sure he is at least 37 points ahead of Nicolò at the end of the encounter. The BMW rider will also only need to win the race; finish ahead of the official Ducati rider; or hope that the Romagnolo does not go any better than 14th to become Champion two races before the end. But the mission may not be as simple as it appears.
Fresh from his victory in Race 2 at Estoril, and his two wins at the Spanish track in 2024, Bulegas will give everything he has in Race 1 to try to keep the title fight alive for as long as possible. The 25-year-old knows full well that he is the only one who can hold his own against the two-time Superbike world champion and we can be sure that, having nothing to lose but only to gain, he will go all-out attack on the Turk to try to postpone his celebrations at least until Sunday. Even without any help from the outside. Or from the so-called "Ducati family."
Three in the hunt for 3rd place, in a Round that brings an era to a close
More than thinking about his teammate's battle, Alvaro Bautista will in fact be focused on the fight for third place in the championship, which he currently holds with an 8-point lead over Andrea Locatelli and Danilo Petrucci. Should Petrux be able to grit his teeth and get back in the race, just a few days after surgery on his right hand, the three of them will take to the track with knives between their teeth and no intention of embarking on any calculations. So will Andrea Iannone, who aims to end his adventure with the Go Eleven team on a high note, after a season that has given the pair more sorrows than joys.
Thus, a highly-charged and emotional season finale is on the horizon. The Round at Jerez, after all, will not only bring the curtain down on the 2025 championship, but will also sanction the end of Jonathan Rea's World Superbike career. After two nearly two decades of success and six consecutive World Championship titles, the lad from Northern Ireland is preparing to bid farewell to the paddock and begin a new chapter. Just like Razgatlioglu, who will leave World Superbike at the end of this year to fulfill his dream of racing in MotoGP.
This will be a highly emotional weekend for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, which will say goodbye not only to the Turkish star, but also to his boxmate Michael van der Mark, who will bid farewell both to the team and to the World Championship for production-based machinery, where he began racing with the Pata Honda team in 2015. The Round at Jerez will also put an end to the championship adventure of Ryan Vickers, after only one season riding the Motocorsa Ducati, and that of Dominique Aegerter, who may not, however, have the chance to take part with the GRT team. Uncertainty, in fact, still surrounds the participation of the Swiss rider, who was already forced to miss the weekend at Estoril with a hand injury suffered in training.
Petrucci, too, as mentioned, may not get the chance to end his spell with the Barni Spark Racing team in the best possible way, before joining BMW in 2026. Instead, Honda HRC's relationship with Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, future riders of the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team and the Pata Maxus Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team respectively, together with that of Bautista with the official Ducati team, from which he will separate for the second time in his career to wear the colors of the Barni team in 2026, will come to an end with one final weekend on the track.