WORLD SUPERBIKE 2022 ENTRY LIST CONFIRMED

The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship (WSBK) has confirmed the entry list for 2022, with 24 riders across factory and privateer teams for the new season, as well as a new champion.

After clinching the 2021 WSBK title at the final round, Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK’s Toprak Razgatlioglu will wear the #1 plate in 2022, while six-time champion, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea, will revert to the #65 he last wore in 2015.

Both the Yamaha and Kawasaki factory teams retain their rider lineups from last year in the form of Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli at Yamaha, with Rea and Alex Lowes at Kawasaki.

There are changes at the Ducati, BMW and Honda factory teams, though, with Alvaro Bautista returning to Aruba.it Racing Ducati after two disappointing seasons on a Honda with Team HRC. Bautista takes the Ducati seat previously occupied by Scott Redding, who moves to BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team. Incumbents at Ducati and BMW are Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Michael van der Mark, respectively, while Tom Sykes has been dropped by BMW.

It's all change at Team HRC as Honda desperately searches for success after two fruitless seasons as a factory team and no race wins for a CBR1000RR-R rider in WSBK since 2016. For 2022, Team HRC has replaced Bautista and Leon Haslam with Xavi Vierge from Moto2 and Iker Lecuona from MotoGP, both of whom will be making their WSBK debuts.

Moving to the independent teams, GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team retain their lineup of Garrett Gerloff and Kohta Nozane, while the Bonovo Action BMW team expands to two entries this year, welcoming the experienced Loris Baz alongside Eugene Laverty.

MIE Racing Honda Team also expands to two riders in 2022, with Malaysia’s Hafizh Syahrin joining Leandro Mercado in the Japanese squad.

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, Barni Spark Racing, Team Pedercini, Gil Motorsport, Motocorsa Racing and Team Goeleven all return for 2022 (albeit with some rider changes), with the only all-new outfit on the WSBK grid this season being Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team, who step up from previous campaigns in World Supersport and World Supersport 300.

Within the satellite squads, Axel Bassani (the surprise packet of 2021) remains at Motocorsa, Christophe Ponsson at Gil Motorsport and Lucas Mahias at Kawasaki Puccetti. Barni Spark Racing has signed Luca Bernardi after a disrupted 2021 season where both Tito Rabat and Samuel Cavalieri rode for the Italian team.

Team Goeleven have signed Philipp Öttl to replace the retired Chaz Davies, with Orelac Racing Verdnatura welcoming Czech rider Oliver Konig in place of Isaac Viñales, who switches to the new Yamaha Motoxracing team.

With only one WSBK race under his belt, Konig is essentially a rookie, but the 2022 grid will boast five true category rookies in Vierge, Lecuona, Syahrin, Öttl and Bernardi.

When the entry list was released on 25 January, Team Pedercini Racing was the only outfit without a listed rider, but has since confirmed Belgian Loris Cresson will remain with the Italian squad for 2022.

Riders departing WSBK over the off-season include the aforementioned Sykes, Haslam and Davies, as well as Jonas Folger.

As has been the case for the past five years, there are no Australians on the full-time WSBK grid for 2022, but the Southern Cross will be represented in both World Supersport and World Supersport 300 this year.

The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship gets underway at Aragon, Spain, on 8-10 April. Since the provisional calendar was released last November, the TBC thirteenth round has been dropped, and while the Australian round remains without a confirmed date, it will likely be late November or early December.

The full 2022 World Superbike grid is as follows:

N° RIDER NAT. MOTORCYCLE TEAM

1 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu TUR Yamaha YZF R1 Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK

55 Andrea Locatelli ITA Yamaha YZF R1 Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK

22 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki ZX-10RR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK

65 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki ZX-10RR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK

19 Alvaro Bautista ESP Ducati Panigale V4R Aruba.It Racing - Ducati

21 Michael Rinaldi ITA Ducati Panigale V4R Aruba.It Racing - Ducati

45 Scott Redding GBR BMW M1000RR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team

60 Michael van der Mark NED BMW M1000RR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team

7 Iker Lecuona* ESP Honda CBR1000 RR-R Team HRC

97 Xavi Vierge* ESP Honda CBR1000 RR-R Team HRC