The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is four rounds into the season but testing remains of the essence, as the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” welcomed riders and teams on track for two days. Tom Sykes (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) stole the headlines the day before the test as he was confirmed as Michael van der Mark’s replacement until the Dutchman is back from injury, after splitting with the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team.

ONE LAP PACE: Sykes’ best strength still strong, faster than Redding on Day 1

Day one of action at Misano saw Sykes finish as the top factory BMW in P7, whilst full-time teammate Scott Redding was only P11. Whilst it was impressive from Sykes to get a lap in faster than his teammate – given the updates and changes that have been undergone in the team since Sykes left, such as a new brake supplier and new aero package – the race pace is slightly different.

RACE PACE: Sykes competitive, Redding faster

Perhaps as expected, Sykes wasn’t able to match his teammate. On day one, Sykes set 22 1’35s and four 1’34s, with a fastest lap coming as his final flying lap with a 1’34.416. He set a five lap run, all in the 1’35s and high 1’35s at that, whilst a six lap run followed straight after a trip in the pitlane and he was faster, with mid 1’35s. His final four flying laps were all inside the 1’34s, so it was a strong day for the returning #66.

Teammate Scott Redding was quicker in overall race pace, with ten 1’34s and 26 1’35s. In terms of his runs, Redding set a six-lap run with two laps in the 1’35s before getting down to the 1’34s, whilst a final run of the day saw the #45 set three mid 1’34s, where his fastest time came as a 1’34.637s, just over two tenths slower than Sykes over one lap. Sykes set fewer laps than Redding, with 61 (of which 40 were officially timed laps, vs Redding’s 83, of which 57 were timed. On the second day, the story was much the same, although Redding lapped faster than Sykes, albeit not quicker than day one’s time for either of them.

SHAUN MUIR’S THOUGHTS: “The old Tom is there… he has got good pace”

Speaking about Sykes returning, team principal Shaun Muir was happy to have him back: “For us, good to have Tom back and have him as a reference point. We can’t make any commitment long-term to Tom. It’s a big chance for him to prove what level he’s still at and I could see from only one hour on track, the old Tom is there. We know he’s quick, we know he has pace. That ticks one box.”

Evaluating the opening day, Muir’s praise continued: “Tom started with a base bike and we made some very minor changes to the bike, mainly ergonomically. We got him feeling really comfortable and I’m really pleased for him. Everyone can question his level and his ability and his commitment, but what we saw on day one was that he has got good pace. He jumped on the bike and immediately, he was really good to get the feedback in the improvements the bike and the team have made over the last season whilst he’s not been with us. That was really strong. It is important to get technical feedback and we know Tom is a good feedback rider and test rider. His development skills we’ve had so far have contributed to the development of the M1000 RR.”

SYKES WITH HIGH HOPES: “I hope to have some good results… I’ve been given a great opportunity”

“I know the team and bike from previous years and everything has been relaxed and like clockwork on day one,” began Sykes after the opening day.”Lap by lap, I was getting the old feeling back with the package, but it’s clear that they’ve made steps forward from the last time I rode it. Ultimately, here at Misano, a circuit I enjoy, so it was a good, productive day. Compliments to all the guys and BMW, they’ve made a big step forward in a lot of areas and that was very easy for me to see. There’s been small changes to my position on the bike compared to Michael and some little tweaks to setup and that was literally it. In the latter stages of the day, we got a good feeling with the race tyre and that brings a smile to my face.”

Talking about what he wants to get out of his time back in the BMW saddle, Sykes was coy, but hopes that he can enjoy it: “Little personal goals but it all depends how many rounds I do. We all know Mikey, I couldn’t believe it when I saw him in the gym just after having his femur fixed. I wish him a speedy recovery as it wasn’t pretty at Assen. I’ll just take it round by round and see where that leads to. Ultimately, looking at the short term like Misano, Donington Park and Imola, which are all circuit that I enjoy, so hopefully we can work in the way we’ve done at the test, as it’s been really productive. If we can work like that in the next rounds, I really hope to have some good results. I’ve been given a great opportunity, I want to try and enjoy it and see where we go after that.”

AT THE END OF THE… TEST: positivity is word of the day

Speaking at the end of the whole test and after finishing day two in P11 and not improving his time, Sykes said: “Ultimately, I am very happy with the test and I’m getting a bit more of an understanding of where the guys have made some lovely steps since last riding the bike. Today, we went through some items so it took a bit of sting out of the tail as we spent some time evaluating that and then in between the rain and sunshine, the guys did a great job. Myself and Scott have been working on the items and it has gathered some very good information on how to improve some limitations. The guys have got time to react and from that, hopefully it’s moving forward all of the time. For me, it’s good to get an understanding for the next event. The goal is to be competitive and enjoy my racing, so we shall see. We’ve had some good results here in the past with the BMW both in Superpole and in the races, so it’d be lovely to repeat the podium success. I think that’d be a fantastic target. There’s a lot of competition but I think if we keep working, we can find more speed than what we showed during the test.”

TEAMMATES WITH REDDING: how did it go?

In 2022, it was Scott Redding who replaced Sykes at BMW but in that proverbial ‘funny old world’, they’re now teammates. Sykes spoke about working in the box with him: “I’ve not really seen him much. We had a conversation on Instagram a couple of months ago but regarding in the box, I thought I might get a pot of tea and get to know him. But as soon as he’s finished riding, he’s on his push bike and gone, so I don’t really see him! Honestly, I think it’s good that we have very similar comments on the items, and that’s always good for the forward momentum.”

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The second day of action in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was interrupted by rain at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” which fell just over an hour into the session, which was topped by Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) by almost a second ahead of Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) with their best times being set in the opening stages of the four-hour morning session.

Bautista’s best time was a 1’33.850s to take spot in the morning session, completing one 12-lap stint before the rain with his best time coming on his eighth lap of the day. Despite the rain, Bautista was the busiest rider in the morning session with 38 laps to his name. Redding was 0.946s behind reigning Champion Bautista after a short stint in the opening stages to set a best time of 1’34.796s, matching his time from Day 1. Bautista’s teammate, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, claimed third spot in the morning and was one of the first riders to venture out onto the wet track while Bautista ventured out later on in the wet. Rinaldi’s best time in the first session was a 1’34.843s as he set 35 laps, with the Ducati riders once again the busiest in the morning.

Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) put three Ducatis in the top four before the rain fell as he set a 1’35.430s, ahead of French rider Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) in fifth. Baz was another of the first riders to head out in wet conditions on full tyres but he posted a 1’35.512s in dry conditions ahead of Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) who rounded out the top six after setting a 1’35.558s before the rain fell in Italy.

As the track dried towards the one-hour break, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK), using the fifth bike in the Yamaha garage, moved into seventh place and he demoted Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) into eighth. Baldassarri was quick in the dry morning session but he briefly brought out the red flags with a Turn 1 crash. He posted a 1’36.052s as his best time finish ahead of Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) in ninth, as just 0.011s separated Baldassarri and Lecuona, with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) in tenth.

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Some of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field descended on the iconic Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” for the first of two days of testing in Italy and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) was full of optimism following his on-track action, declaring that he is ready to fight for victory at the Emilia-Romagna Round next month. Razgatlioglu’s day was interrupted by a crash in the morning session but he was still full of positivity following the day’s action.

Razgatlioglu’s fastest time was a 1’33.545s which was set in the afternoon session before the rain fell with his tome coming in a five-lap stint at the end of the day. The 2021 Champion racked up 92 laps on Day 1 despite a Turn 3 crash, which occurred on old tyres and he was able to ride his bike back to the pits, to finish in second place. He was 0.510s behind pacesetter Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who set his time on the SCQ tyre while Razgatlioglu’s was on the SCX.

It was Razgatlioglu’s race pace, however, that left the Turkish rider happy at the end of the day. His longest stint was a 15-lap run in the afternoon. He started off with times in the low 1’34s bracket before setting his fastest times of the run, in the 1’33.8s-1’33.9s brackets towards the end of his stint. Between his tenth and 15^th lap of the stint, Razgatlioglu only went below 1’34s on one occasion, on his penultimate lap. On the final lap, he was back in the 1’33.8s bracket. In a shorter stint later on, Razgatlioglu completed five laps and four of them were in the mid-to-high 1’33s with his representative times ranging from 1’33.545s to 1’33.729s.

Discussing his day and his race simulation, Razgatlioglu said: “I finished the first day in second position, but I was not looking for the fastest lap. My race simulation is unbelievable! We made a big improvement at this circuit. I’m always very happy, I’m enjoying riding after Catalunya because we were riding at half gas there. There was no grip and we needed to keep the tyres for the last five laps. Here, we don’t have the tyre drop. We are pushing every lap and I enjoyed today. My race simulation was very strong. In the afternoon, in the warmer conditions, we used the SCX tyre. We did very good lap times and almost my best lap time with the race tyre. I did a race simulation with similar lap times. For me, it’s a very positive test for the first day. In the afternoon, it started to rain. I used the SCQ tyre but it’s not possible to get a very good lap time because the SCQ tyre has a lot of grip and the rear is pushing a lot. The bike wasn’t turning. We need to work on the bike setup with the SCQ tyre.”

Razgatlioglu claimed his first victory of the 2022 campaign at Misano last year when he won the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race. He goes into the 2023 Emilia-Romagna Round with a win to his name, after his win in the Superpole Race at Mandalika. However, his wait for a win in either Race 1 or Race 2 goes on in 2023 and he will be hoping his first won of the year comes at Misano especially after the strong race pace he showed.

Looking ahead to the round, Razgatlioglu said: “It’s a very positive test for me and now I’m waiting for the round. Okay, we have tomorrow, but it looks like it might rain. My feeling is very good and I’m confident in all corners. It looks like I’m ready to fight for the win in the race. The race is always difficult. Alvaro and Rinaldi and Jonny are very strong at this track. We will see but we will keep fighting.”

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The first of two days of testing for the majority of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field concluded with rain interrupting the final part of the day at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was under lap record pace in the morning as he used Pirelli’s SCQ tyre to edge closer to the 1’32s bracket, with Bautista finishing ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) whose day was disrupted by a Turn 3 crash in the morning session.

DUCATI ON TOP: Bautista on lap record pace

Reigning Champion Bautista led the way on Day 1 as he set a lap time faster than the existing all-time lap record after posting a 1’33.035s in the closing stages of the morning session while using Pirelli’s SCQ tyre, with his time around three tenths faster than his own lap record set in last year’s Tissot Superpole session. Bautista’s opening day, where he completed 87 laps including 64 in the morning, was spent working on the bike with new their rpm limit as well as looking ahead to the Emilia-Romagna Round. Teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi took third spot on Day 1, 0.673s behind his teammate, as he worked on a setup comparison using setups from Mandalika and Barcelona as he completed 90 laps.

In terms of Independent Ducatis, two appeared in the top ten as Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) claimed sixth spot, 1.350s down on Bautista, and Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) completed the top ten. Bassani’s main focus for the test is to look at tyre consumption after struggling in Barcelona, while Oettl was hoping to find some rear grip as well as improving the overall feeling of his Panigale V4 R as he mostly looked at the settings of his machine. From WorldSSP, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) was the only rider on track and he posted a 1’37.010s to go under the all-time lap record in WorldSSP at Misano. However, he did crash at Turn 13 in the morning with Bulega completing no running after the crash.

SWINGARM EVOLUTIONS AT YAMAHA: Razgatlioglu second despite crash

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) took second spot after posting a 1’33.545s in the morning session on the SCX tyre, around half-a-second down on Bautista. Razgatlioglu had a small crash at Turn 3 in the morning on old tyres, but returned to the pits on his bike, while he had a focus on swingarms and linkage that had already been tested before but with modifications. He completed 92 laps on Day 1. Teammate Andrea Locatelli took 13^th place on Day 1 after posting a 1’34.800s, with Locatelli finishing as the third-fastest Yamaha and completing 51 laps on Thursday.

Rookie Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) finished the day as the second fastest Yamaha in 12^th place, 0.009s faster than Locatelli as he set a 1’34.789s. The GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team duo were on track with Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner with the pair in 15^th and 16^th respectively, separated by around half-a-tenth. The pair racked up 174 laps between them, with Aegerter on 84 and Gardner on 90.

CHANGES AT HONDA: new swingarms on show

The Misano test is an important one for Team HRC with riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge testing two variations of a new swingarm in order to test the direction. Vierge was the fastest rider on Day 1 out of the two after he completed 87 laps and took fourth place with a 1’34.043s, when he used the SCQ tyre, while Lecuona completed 65 laps. His best time was a 1’34.602s to put him in eighth place, ensuring both Hondas finished in the top ten.

The PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team were also on track but with one rider. With Eric Granado and Hafizh Syahrin recovering from crashes at the Catalunya Round, the team opted to bring in Tarran Mackenzie, from their WorldSSP team, for the test. He finished last of the WorldSBK riders after posting a 1’37.606s as his best lap on his first time with the Honda CBR1000RR-R, completing 60 laps.

SYKES RETURNS: strong pace shown by BMW

The headline at BMW was the return of Tom Sykes (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) to BMW to temporarily replace BMW. His programme did not involve new parts but running the bike he finished the 2021 campaign with to compare it to the 2023 machine. Sykes was seventh at the end of the day after setting a 1’34.416s and completing 61 laps. Teammate Scott Redding had two variations of a swingarm to use, as well as a chassis, and he finished in 11^th place with a 1’34.637s with 82 laps record.

Bonovo Action BMW were also on track with Garrett Gerloff and Loris Baz with Gerloff finishing inside the top five while Baz’s day was disrupted by a crash. American star Gerloff completed 61 laps on his way to fifth place and he set a best time of 1’34.345, around 1.3 seconds down on Bautista, but did have a technical issue in the closing stages of the day. Baz was in 18^th place after his crash, completing 45 laps and setting a 1’35.543s.

ONE KAWASAKI RIDER ON DAY 1: Mahias back in WorldSBK

The Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK opted to run a slimmed-down approach to this test with test rider Florian Marino riding in place of riders Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes. However, the team opted not to run on Day 1. This meant Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), returning to the team following Sykes’ departure, was the only Kawasaki rider on track. He posted a 1’36.560s to take 19^th place with 53 laps completed.

The top six following Day 1:

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’33.035s, 87 laps

2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +0.510s, 92 laps

3. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.673s, 90 laps

4. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) +1.008s, 87 laps

5. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) +1.310s, 61 laps

6. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +1.350s, 64 laps

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The first morning of testing at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” was topped by Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as the majority of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field travelled east from Spain to Italy for a two-day test. Bautista was setting all-time lap record pace towards the end of the first morning, with track conditions optimal despite the threat of rain during the build-up to the test.

Bautista’s best lap time came in his sixth stint of the morning and he posted a 1’33.035s, using Pirelli’s SCQ tyre, to lap around three tenths quicker than the existing all-time lap record at Misano, set by Bautista in last year’s Tissot Superpole session. Bautista was more than six tenths clear of 2021 Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) in second place after the Turkish rider leapfrogged Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in the closing stages of the four-hour morning session. Only Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Rinaldi lapped in the 1’33s bracket in the morning.

Two BMW riders finished in the top five in the morning, with Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) continuing his fine form with fourth ahead of Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in fifth place. The pair were separated by around two tenths of a second at the end of the morning session, with rookie Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) ending the morning in sixth place and just 0.009s slower than Redding.

Baldassarri put in a late lap towards the end of the session to move ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) with Locatelli demoted to seventh, finishing ahead of a trio of Independent riders. Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) finished in eighth after he set a 1’34.869s, just 0.016s clear of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) in ninth place. Rookie Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) posted a 1’34.923s to finish the first session in tenth.

There was a red flag in the final hour of the morning session after a crash for Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) at Turn 13, while Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) also had a crash during the session. Bulega went for a check-up following the crash with Baz okay despite his incident.

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The two-day MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” is a chance for teams and riders to test new items ahead of Round 5 at the same circuit at the start of June. However, for Tom Sykes, it is a chance to get reunited with the BMW M1000RR machine as well as the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team outfit after he re-joined the squad on a temporary basis this week and Team Principal Shaun Muir discussed Sykes’ return to the team during the Misano test.

SYKES IS BACK: Muir’s thoughts on Sykes’ return to BMW

Sykes left Kawasaki Puccetti Racing and subsequently re-joined BMW, the team and manufacturer he left at the end of the 2021 campaign, to temporarily replace Dutch rider Michael van der Mark who continues to recover from a fractured left femur sustained in a crash at Assen. Sykes had been competing with Puccetti Kawasaki this season but one point from 12 races and a series of retirements meant that partnership ended early. Until van der Mark is back fit and ready to race, Sykes will replace him during rounds and any tests the BMW team have.

When asked about Sykes’ return, Muir said: “For us, it was an easy decision to make. Already, before this, to replace anyone in WorldSBK at this level is very difficult. Ivo Lopes did a really good job in Catalunya but it’s quite clear that there’s another two or three rounds where Michael will not be ready to come back. For us, good to have Tom back and have him as a reference point. It’s a good opportunity for Tom in two aspects. The first is for Tom to put himself back on the stage. We cannot make any commitment long-term to Tom. It’s a big chance for him to prove what level he’s still at and, already I can see from only one hour on track, the old Tom is there. We know he’s quick, we know he has pace. That ticks one box.

“The second aspect is understanding Tom’s character and what he can bring to the team. He’s got an enormous amount of experience and he’s ridden several manufacturers’ bikes. For me, we’re going to take as much as we can from him in the time that we have him. We don’t want to start throwing new material at him. We want to say ‘this is the bike you finished on in 2021, and this is the bike now in 2023, please assess where we are, give us your experienced feedback and do you feel we’ve made the right direction or does it still have the same problems it still had in 2021?’.

MISANO TEST: what will Sykes and Redding be working on?

Sykes will be alongside Scott Redding during this test and at the rounds he competes in for BMW and the pair will be looking to help BMW make steps forward with the German manufacturer currently last in the Manufacturers’ Championship. Muir explained that both riders have a different testing programme for the Misano test but with the goal of being able to improve the M1000RR as soon as possible.

Talking about the testing programme for both Sykes and Redding, Muir said: “Tom’s testing programme is very limited because his focus is to reacclimatise himself to the M1000RR which has developed a lot over the time he was last on the bike. The main focus for him is to, ergonomically, get back to feeling the bike and also some chassis changes within the base setup that we have. We’re not developing parts for Tom at all, he’s only going to have the base bike and also around the base electronics which have also changed since he last rode it.

“On Scott’s side, we have a pretty extensive programme. It’s mainly focused on chassis and swingarm evolution. We’re working on two variations of swingarms and two variations of the chassis. The swingarms are existing swingarms with modifications to them so we can find the development direction. Whatever we finalise here will not be immediately available, it’s something we’ll need to work towards. It’s been well understood within the BMW family, all four riders, that our mid-corner turning is the big issue for us, and we need to make steps to overcome this. The problem with the bike for us, which is stopping us making a big step forward, is the turning characteristics of the bike. This is the focus of our test.”

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As some of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship grid heads to the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” for a two-day test, teams will have the opportunity to test some new components on their machines to try and take more steps forward. Team HRC will have new items to try throughout the test in Italy with Team Manager Leon Camier explaining what is being tested and how it will benefit riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge.

Honda brought new components to tests at MotorLand Aragon and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and it appeared they had made a step ahead of the Dutch Round at the TT Circuit Assen. Although they were inside the top ten at points throughout both rounds, they weren’t able to fight for a podium place consistently throughout with Lecuona the closest in Catalunya when he missed out by half-a-second.

In order to try and take another step, Team HRC have more components to try at the Misano test, including items to help with rider position on the bike to help benefit Lecuona and Vierge as well as two variants of a new swingarm which was described by Camier as “probably the main thing” for the test.

Discussing the new components, Camier said: “It’s important, we need to clarify a few things and we have a few new items. We want to work on the bike we’ve got to check some options, some rider position things to understand the balance of the bike a little bit at this point. Testing is always good, it’s always good to be away from racing and trying to understand the bike we’ve got a little bit more.”

We have a new swingarm to test, that’s probably the main thing. This will be interesting. We actually have two different versions of it to try, just to see the direction. Hopefully we will understand something from this. Apart from that, there’s not too much. There are some other small items, but this is the main point of this test. We also want to check rider position on the bike to understand, with the super concession chassis, where to put the riders on the bike and the overall balance.”

In 2023, Honda have one podium to their name after Vierge took his first WorldSBK podium in Race 2 at Mandalika. Both Lecuona and Vierge have been fighting inside the top ten throughout races in a highly competitive field and, speaking at the test, Camier reviewed the 2023 campaign so far for Honda. After four rounds, Honda are fourth in the Manufacturers’ Championship, 36 points behind Kawasaki ahead and 23 ahead of BMW behind.

Reviewing 2023 so far, Camier said: “We’re not happy to be where we are. We were probably expecting to be further up this year, but it is what it is. We have to keep understanding the problems, keep working on them and keep improving. This is the goal. Can’t see we’re content with where we are, but it is what it is, and we have to keep working.”

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The Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” is holding a two-day test for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship on Thursday and Friday, with a couple of novelties in terms of rider line-up. One of these is Tarran Mackenzie who is riding the PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team’s CBR1000RR-R machine at the test. He brings plenty of Superbike experience to the team having ridden in the British championship but the Misano test is his first time on the MIE Honda CBR1000RR-R. Check out images from his first test at the top of this article!

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With the vast majority of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship grid heading to the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, it was the first chance to see Tom Sykes after his return to the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team following his split from the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Team. Sykes was on track with the M1000RR in Italy alongside teammate Scott Redding as he temporarily stands in for the recovering Michael van der Mark. Check out images from Sykes’ BMW return at Misano in the gallery at the top of this article!

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Just a few days after the Prosecco DOC Catalunya Round, the majority of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship are heading to Italy and the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” for a two-day test. The test is a Dorna Supported Test with the five factory teams having representation as well as some new and returning faces after a recent switch up in the WorldSBK field. The two-day test will be a good opportunity for teams and riders to prepare for the Emilia-Romagna Round at the same venue at the start of June.

The test takes place on Thursday 11^th and Friday 12^th May at the Misano World Circuit, with two sessions per day. The morning session will take place from 09:00 Local Time (GMT+2) until 13:00, with an hour break for lunch. The afternoon session will start at 14:00 and finish at 18:00, giving teams and riders eight hours on track per day to test upgrades, refine setups and prepare for the upcoming event at the same circuit.

SYKES AT BMW, MACKENZIE AT MIE: changes to teams at the test

After his split from Kawasaki Puccetti Racing and subsequent temporary return to the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, Tom Sykes will make his on-track return to the German manufacturer at the Misano test, alongside Scott Redding. With Sykes returning to BMW, Puccetti Kawasaki will field Lucas Mahias at the test after he substituted in WorldSSP for Can Oncu for the same team; he raced for the team in WorldSBK in 2021 and 2022. The PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team will field only one bike in the test, with their WorldSSP rider, Tarran Mackenzie getting a chance to return to a Superbike machine – Eric Granado and Hafizh Syahrin are both injured, although Granado was scheduled for MotoE™ World Cup duty at Le Mans anyway.

The Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK will be at the test but with just one rider testing for the team. Due to the forecast showing cold temperatures and rain, KRT have opted to run with a small structure and test rider Florian Marino will carry out tasks without Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes on track. Lowes recently stated that the team needs to test when the track temperature is 50 degrees, not when it is cooler, as their package is already strong.

FACTORY TEAMS ON TRACK: three unchanged line-ups

With BMW riding with Redding and Sykes and KRT’s slimmed down approach to the test, three other factory teams will be on track with their regular line-up. Championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi will be joined by Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK’s Toprak Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli, whilst Honda will have Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and Xavi Vierge testing at Misano. At last year’s Misano test in June, Honda brought an upgraded swingarm for the first time, tested by Tetsuta Nagashima and Iker Lecuona, as Vierge was out injured. All eyes will be on Honda again, to see if they bring any further new items, particularly after the attendance of Tetsuhiro Kuwata (HRC Director) and Yuzuru Ishikawa, the Large Project Leader of the CBR1000RR-R SP, in Barcelona last weekend.

INDEPENDENT RIDERS: eight more riders join the test

As well as representatives from the five factory teams, plenty of Independent riders will take to the Misano track as well. Home rider Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) will look to start bouncing back from a difficult Catalunya Round at the test whilst compatriot Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) will continue adapting with his team to WorldSBK. Team GoEleven will be on track with Philipp Oettl at the two-day test whilst there will be two Independent teams with two riders each on track. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Remy Gardner will both continue their adaptation to WorldSBK machinery, joined by Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) after his strong Catalunya Round and teammate Loris Baz making it two riders for Bonovo BMW. In WorldSSP, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) will be on track.

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Source: WorldSBK.com