Australia’s pre-round testing will provide the final pre-season window for teams to prepare their bikes and riders for the upcoming MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship
Poor weather conditions limited the running across first Jerez’s pair of testing days, and then similar dreary conditions affected riders’ ability to push their bikes at Portimao as well. It looks like Monday and Tuesday, the 17th and 18th of February and the final pre-season test days that will be held in Australia will finally provide the teams a chance to run their bikes unaffected by wet weather, providing a tremendous opportunity for the teams.
With Toprak Razgatlioglu back in action after his broken finger suffered during the offseason, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team are back to full strength after Michael van der Mark was the sole grid rider representing BMW at Jerez. Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing) is back on Ducati Machinery, and so far in this preseason, the change seems to be agreeing with him. Fellow Ducati-machinery independent riders will be joining Redding and the others on the track for testing, such as Andrea Iannone and 2024 Top Independent Rider Danilo Petrucci. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) has been similarly impressive throughout the albeit-limited preseason testing so far, even beating the returning Toprak Razgatlioglu for fastest lap in Portimao’s Day 2, and Ducati-independent rookie, Ryan Vickers (Motocorsa Racing) will begoing to his first WorldSBK trip to Australia in his career so far. For the new manufacturer Bimota, Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani have impressed many around the paddock with how competitive they and their brand new Bimota KB998 Rimini have been so far in testing. Marcel Duinker, Bassani’s Crew Chief spoke at Bimota’s team launch event and praised Bassani for his improvement in his Tissot Superpole times on the SCQ tire.
Remy Gardner’s (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) preseason has been fast so far as well, and now ahead of his third WorldSBK season, the Australian rider will hope to start his season strong on home soil. Teammate Dominique Aegerter stated that after Portimao’s testing, he was still feeling pain in his shoulder, which still had a metal plate reinforcing it after a bad mountain bike crash in August 2024. He has since had the plate removed in early February 2025 and is looking forward to racing pain-free. Joining them in blue, Six-time Rider’s Champion Jonathan Rea and his Pata Maxus Yamaha team’s work this offseason looks to be paying off so far from what we’ve seen so far from this preseason. Rea is flanked by teammate Andrea Locatelli, who has been consistently fast throughout the preseason however Australia’s two day of testing may provide him an opportunity to make progress on his setup. Rookie Bahattin Sofuoglu (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) suffered a crash at Portimao Day 2, requiring him to go to a local hospital with what is suspected to be a collarbone injury.
Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) has seemingly adapted quickly to his team’s ZX-10RR Ninja after his move from BONOVO Action BMW to Kawasaki this offseason. He consistently placed well throughout the preseason testing days so far, and perhaps dry weather in Australia’s testing days will allow the Texan to show his true potential with the bike, which in his words, will be “fighting at the front”. One of the preseason’s surprises this year has been Team HRC’s fast pace in testing so far. Xavi Vierge has consistently been in the top 10 positions throughout the various testing days, and Iker Lecuona registered a P7 despite still recovering from his broken rib suffered this offseason. The pair of Spanish Team HRC riders will hope to continue to settle in atop their bikes with the final preseason testing days and continue to acclimate to their bike’s new Ohlins suspension.
While he technically made his WorldSBK debut back in 2022 with his appearance at the MOTUL Czech Round, Ryan Vickers is one of the grid’s four rookies this year. He looked fast at testing in Portimao, however rainy conditions across Portimao and Jerez have left many guessing as to how he will fare this year. In the offseason, Barni Spark Racing Team expanded to add a new rider in the form of fellow Italian and WorldSBK rookie, Yari Montella. Montella has looked competitive so far, placing P3 in Jerez’s rainy Day 1. Lastly but not least, Zaqhwan Zaidi joined PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team this offseason and will partake in his first preseason testing event on Monday 17th in Australia
The FIM Supersport World Championship will be preparing for their own season start just hours before the WorldSBK grid take to the track, and riders like last year’s runner up Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing), Debise Valentin (Renzi Corse), Marcel Schroetter (WRP Racing) and veteran Federico Caricasulo (Motozoo ME air racing) are raring to get the racing season underway. The WorldSSP grid is further supplemented by big names from other Championships such as: Phillip Oettl (Feel Racing WorldSSP Team) and Michael Rinaldi (GMT94-YAMAHA) are joining the WorldSSP grid from WorldSBK, and Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) and Aldi Mahendra (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team) are joining from Moto2™ and WorldSupersport300, respectively.
