The sun is setting on the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season but there’s still one round remaining; in the last three rounds – which have been in four weeks – there have been an abundance of stories right the way through the order. We’ve put some of the key themes since we came back from the August break below, with them also serving as things to watch out for in the final round of the season.
TOPRAK’S TENACITY: a remarkable effort
It’s always been clear that Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) will never give up but Race 2 at Portimao elevated the meaning of that. He duelled with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) like we’ve never seen before, with some of the latest braking witnessed. It’s the race that everyone has been talking about for just how good Toprak Razgatlioglu was in combat and just how much he pushed himself, the bike and emptied the tank to try and topple the Championship leader. Resilient, relentless and irrepressible, the 2021 World Champion performed to the highest level.
BAUTISTA LIKE WINE: better with age and more impressive each round
As the reigning World Superbike Champion, Alvaro Bautista has already demonstrated that he can perform at an amazingly high and hard level late on in his career. The Spaniard, who is 38 years of age and will be 39 by the end of the year, is one of the last of his generation to come through the 125cc class and up through the 250cc Championship and then MotoGP™. The same era as Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner and whilst they were often ahead of him in MotoGP™, Bautista’s transition to WorldSBK has seen him become the best version of himself, with more understanding, different approach but still having a mindset to stay young in his training and keep adapting in his racing. As he said in the most recent Hot Headlines at Portimao: “The devil knows more for being old than for being the devil”, whilst in comparison to other rivals, he said Toprak was one of the toughest ever.
BMW COMPETITIVE WITH GERLOFF: a sign of a bright future
BMW may have struggled in recent years for consistency but one rider is doing the business; Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) has been fast since Donington Park but since Magny-Cours, he’s been getting the results to back it up. A pole in France, fighting well at Aragon – a track they struggle at – and taking a best of the year in P4, the American has been riding very well and is edging the manufacturer closer to the podium and doing so on merit. Toprak Razgatlioglu moves to BMW in 2024 and it’s going to be very interesting to see what he’ll be able to do if uptick in performance continues. Gerloff has great feel, a great team around him and is a good development rider and BMW are coming good, with some of it owed to him. He could still finish P8 overall in the standings.
REA ON THE LIMIT: Kawasaki’s shortfalls too big for Rea to make up?
A Sunday to forget at Portimao for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and an Aragon Round where he wasn’t able to make the difference, although he gave it an astonishing attempt in the Superpole Race. Rea is having to be so perfect to get the maximum out of his bike – which isn’t enough at every track – that mistakes are coming because to be on the limit like that for an entirety of a race is almost impossible. A small mistake at Turn 12 in the Superpole Race backs that thesis up from Aragon, when he just ran fractionally wide, giving Bautista the momentum to be closer by the time they got onto the back straight on the last lap. It may not have changed anything in the outcome but it looked like Rea had it sorted until then. The two mistakes at Portimao also come from each opportunity being critical. However, even WorldSBK’s GOAT can’t make miracles. We remain to see what Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) will bring to KRT when he arrives in 2024.
HONDA IMPROVE: what’s the key?
Honda have had a better last couple of rounds and we can perhaps expect them to continue that form at Jerez. So, why the improvement? Donington Park, Imola, Most and Magny-Cours are all extremely quirky tracks, where a rider’s experience can make the difference but where the setup of a bike has to be perfect. A set-up generally always has to be perfect but at tracks like Aragon and Portimao, which both have quirks to them but are much more ‘European’ or ‘Grand Prix’ in style seems to suit the Hondas better. Plenty of testing at the tracks for both Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and his teammate Xavi Vierge will also help. Jerez is much the same. The Honda is competitive but some tracks make it seem worse than what is real.
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Source: WorldSBK.com