There’s a lot to consider in looking ahead to the 2024 Superbike World Championship as racing begins this weekend with the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round at the spectacular Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. With so many changes, this season will certainly bring some surprises.
One combination dominates the WSBK record books: Jonathan Rea and the Kawasaki ZX-10R. Once he got on the Ninja, Rea ran off a string of six consecutive championships from 2015 through 2020 and shattered Carl Fogarty’s all-time wins record.
But even the most successful pairing in championship history doesn’t last forever, and for 2024 Rea, now 37, has switched to the Pata Prometeon Yamaha team to see if a fresh start can bring him one more title.
Just as Rea was known for riding a green bike, it seemed normal to expect three things from Toprak Razgatlıoğlu: an exciting riding style that would have him consistently near the front, the best celebratory stoppies in the paddock, and riding a Yamaha YZF-R1.
Razgatlıoğlu has made an equally bold switch for 2024, riding for the Rokit BMW team on the M 1000 RR, a machine that has shown potential in race trim but has not yet proven it can consistently contend for race wins.
Why are two top riders leaving the teams where they found so much success? Because they’re searching for a way to catch Álvaro Bautista. Bautista returned to Ducati and won the championship the last two years.
Last year, he rode his Aruba.it Ducati Panigale V4R to 27 wins in 36 races and took the title by a 76-point margin over Razgatlıoğlu. Seeing Bautista win so many races pushed Rea and Razgatlıoğlu to leave the comfort zone and take on a new challenge for 2024.
Two newcomers to the series and one young rookie will be interesting to watch. After vying for championships in Moto2, the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team and rider Sam Lowes have packed up their paddock and will be racing a Ducati Panigale V4R in WSBK this year, joining Sam’s twin brother Alex, who is back for another season on the Kawasaki Racing Team.
Another new interesting addition to World Superbike this year is an entirely new class, the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship.
The series will consist of six rounds beginning in June, with one race on Saturday and one on Sunday at each race weekend. Racers will compete on identical race-prepped Yamaha YZF-R7s. A 24-rider field has been selected for WorldWCR and the early favorite has to be 2018 World Supersport 300 champion Ana Carrasco.
