The FIM Supersport 300 World Championship returns to action to start the 2023 season at the TT Circuit Assen during the Pirelli Dutch Round with the first two races of what is set to be a thrilling and unpredictable campaign. With a new manufacturer joining the grid, the reigning Champion moving to WorldSSP, a Champion returning the class and a host of riders aiming to write their names in the history books in 2023, the Dutch Round will kick off the season in style.
DEBUTS AND A RETURNING CHAMPION: Kove debut, Buis is back
The start of the 2023 campaign will mark a historic moment as Chinese manufacturer Kove join the grid with Shengjunjie Zhou (China Racing Team) making his WorldSSP debut, with four manufacturers competing in 2023. The 312RR recently raced in the Spanish championship with Zhou, giving him some experience ahead of his WorldSSP debut. The Dutch Round also marks the return of 2020 Champion Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) to the Championship as he looks to make history and he will be joined by Loris Veneman in 2023. Buis has seven WorldSSP300 wins to his name and one more would make him the rider with the most wins in the Championship’s history. Could he make history at his home track.
EXPANDING TEAMS: reigning Champions to two bikes…
After taking Alvaro Diaz to the title in 2022, the Arco Motor University Team have expanded to two bikes for 2023. Ruben Bijman and Gabriele Mastroluca look to pick up where Diaz left off in 2022 by fighting at the front consistently. The AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha squad have also expanded to two bikes with Raffaele Tragni race winner Matteo Vannucci at the team. There are also new teams on the grid: China Racing Team will make their debut with Zhou while Deza-Box 77 Racing Team will debut with Jose Manuel Osuna Saez.
ROOKIES LOOKING TO IMPRESS: hoping for an early impact
There are several other rookies on the grid too with Mattia Martella (ProDina Kawasaki Racing) returning for his first full-time campaign alongside Samuel Di Sora. Like Martella, Julio Garcia (Team Flembbo-PI Performances) returns after an impressive one-off appearance in 2022 when he fought for the podium while several riders will make their debut. Clement Rouge (Sublime Racing by MS Racing), Raffaele Tragni, Devis Bergamini (ProGP Racing) – who was third in the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Championship in 2022 – Mexican Juan Pablo Uriostegui (Team#109 Kawasaki) and Osuna Saez will all make their debuts at Assen.
RACE WINNERS GO FOR MORE: six previous race winners on track
There will be six riders who have won a race prior to 2023 on the grid this season including the aforementioned Buis. Three one-time winners, Kevin Sabatucci (Team Flembbo-PI Performances), Mirko Gennai (Team BrCorse) and Dirk Geiger (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) will be joined by two-time winners Vannucci and Samuel Di Sora (ProDina Kawasaki Racing). Will any of these riders be able to add to their win tally, or will 2023 feature new riders standing on the top step of the podium?
WILDCARDS: double Dutch at Assen
There will be two wildcard riders at the TT Circuit Assen and both hail from the Netherlands and both will compete for the same team. Sven Doornebal and Thom Molenaar will both compete for the Molenaar Racing Team at the Dutch Round as they did in 2021 and 2022. Molenaar’s best result is 20th, in Race 1 in 2021, while Doornebal also has a best result of 20th which came in Race 1 last year.
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Source: WorldSBK.com