A fulsome and determined group of human beings, teams and manufacturers are about to form a rowdy congregation of worship at one of the truly great temples of speed, Phillip Island. WorldSBK Championship success is their shared aim, so let’s introduce you to the men who will be pastors (or paupers) in 2023.
Team Aruba.it Ducati
Riders Alvaro Bautista & Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Bautista and Rinaldi finished first and fourth in the 2022 World Championship, but the former was on another planet as he won his first title. And he really won it in the end, with both room and revs to spare.
With a revamped Panigale V4 R engine under their right hand for 2023, including the spectre of an improved package in slower turns, even the mega talents of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea will be in deep trouble once again.
Rinaldi’s task is simple this year: keep his ride for 2024. To do that he will have to make the big three into a big four, beat Bautista’s rivals as oft en as he can and win races for himself along the way. No easy suite of tasks, but his own stated ambition is the championship win.
Team Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team
Riders Toprak Razgatlioglu & Andrea Locatelli
Razgatlioglu and Locatelli are again the highest-pitched tuning forks in the wider Yamaha orchestra, with Razgatlioglu the 2021 champion and Locatelli the 2020 WorldSSP grand master before making his WorldSBK debut in 2021. Neither need an introduction, but to truly challenge Bautista and Ducati in 2023 Razgatlioglu needs his bike to grow some bigger
