WorldSBK: More From The Prometeon Spanish Round In Jerez
Yesterday at 01:30 PM
The Prometeon Spanish Round of the Superbike World Championship provided a clearer picture of what to expect in the 2025 season. American Garrett Gerloff showed that given the right conditions, he has the speed to run at the front. He was quickest in Saturday practice, and no one tops a World Superbike session by accident. What remains to be seen is how much support Kawasaki will provide the Puccetti team he will ride for next year. This year’s ZX-10RR is quick and well developed, but the field will progress, and Kawasaki will have its attention split between Puccetti and its new bimota collaboration.
The guard at the factory Ducati team had changed, with Nicolo Bulega thoroughly outperforming his two-time World Champion teammate Alvaro Bautista. Bulega may have had the team’s hopes for the title thrust upon him with Bautista’s struggles, but he definitely stepped up his game toward the end of the year. It was easy to forget that this was Bulega’s rookie year in World Superbike.
Bautista and his Ducati Panigale V4 R never gelled, and although he won races, he was on the ground far too much for his and the team’s liking in 2024. He crashed three times over the weekend at Jerez, and by Sunday, the team was experimenting with setups in anticipation of next year. 2024 was not the title defense Bautista wanted. He will start 2025 on the back foot.
By Sunday, with the title sewn up, Toprak Razgatlioglu was fighting hard for race wins, but Bulega was very nearly his match. The pair were in a class of their own, and they ended Sunday with one win each on the day.
MotoGP winners and expatriates Andrea Iannone and Danilo Petrucci each won races in 2024 on satellite Ducati machines, but there was no room for them on the official factory Ducati team. And a satellite Ducati was better than most of the non-Ducati factory bikes. BMW won only a single race with Razgatlioglu’s teammate Michael van der Mark, and Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes won two races. All of the other wins in 2024 went to Razgatlioglu or Ducati riders, and three satellite Ducati riders won races. With competitive alternatives to a Ducati few and far between, Petrucci and Iannone signed again to their existing teams – Petrucci with Barni, Iannone with GoEleven – for 2025. Each team expects better in 2025. Barni will expand to a two-rider effort with Yari Montella, and GoEleven said it would have a higher-spec machine for next season.
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