The Ducati Factory team pairing of Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista look to improve on what was despite coming up short in the Riders’ Championship, a very strong season. The two-time champion Alvaro Bautista, despite contending with minimum weight restrictions and some unfortunate finishes, ended the season in third place. Beside him, 2024’s runner up finisher Nicolo Bulega, who impressed many with the talent he displayed in just his first WorldSBK season. They will both race atop the Ducati Panigale V4R with their brand-new liveries featured here.

Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Team Principal Stefano Cecconi spoke at the team launch event. He emphasized the progress the team still wants to make with their package after having a limited preseason up to this point due to the poor weather. Cecconi outlined his team’s goals in this upcoming season and stressed the importance of not underestimating their rivals.

“In 2024, we fought until the last race, and we know that the season about to begin will also offer us a challenge that is perhaps even tougher. However, we feel ready to face it at our best and with maximum motivation.” Said Cecconi “The weather we found during the winter tests did not allow us to measure ourselves against all our opponents and did not offer us much time to spend on the track, so it will be even more interesting to do so during the next official test days in Australia, where the work of adapting to the new technical regulations will also continue. I know the value of our riders and the guys in the team well, so all that remains is for me to wish them all the best of luck”.

Alvaro Bautista spoke at the event as well, the #19 excited to kick off his fifth season with Aruba.it Racing – Ducati. He referenced last season as being more difficult than expected, and that while expectations are higher this season, he is mentally and physically ready to continue fighting for the title at 40 years old and feels his team supporting him in that endeavor.

“I am very motivated for this season which will be my fifth with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team, the fourth in a row.” Said Bautista “Last year was more difficult than expected, but we still got positive results, finishing third in the world championship standings. It’s clear that expectations are higher this season, and if I’ve decided to continue racing, it’s because I feel I’m still physically and mentally competitive. We will try to find a good feeling right away and have fun. I thank the Aruba Racing team and Ducati for their support and commitment. I will do everything possible to reciprocate this trust by obtaining excellent results”.

Nicolo Bulega, who won his first-ever WorldSBK race in Australia in Race 1, sounds confident ahead of his sophomore season, and especially confident about his chances in Phillip Island’s season opener. If he can improve aspects of his riding, Toprak Razgatlioglu and BMW will have a stiff challenge in front of them in accomplishing their shared goal of winning both the Riders’ and Manufacturers’ Title for their respective manufacturers.

“I am thrilled to start my second year with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team.” Said Bulega “I can say that I am very confident about what we did last season. 2024 has been very positive, and an excellent feeling has been created within the team. We start immediately in Australia, where last year I scored my first win on debut, so expectations are undoubtedly high. The first goal is to come home from Phillip Island with even better memories”.

Ducati Corse General Manager Luigi Dall’lgna was present at the event as well, and while he stressed the challenges of the season ahead of them, he reminded WorldSBK fans that Ducati won last year’s Teams’ and Manufacturers’ Championships. The Manufacturers’ title this year will be likely less of a challenge than the Teams’ or Riders’ Championship as there are more Ducati’s on the grid than any other manufacturer, however in any case, strong performances will be required of their riders in order to stave off numerically smaller teams.

“A new season is beginning in WorldSBK with the same goal as always for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Team: to fight for the Riders’ World Title that we did not win last year and try to bring it back to Borgo Panigale.” Said Dall’lgna “This is our mission, and we will give everything to achieve the goal. It is a tough challenge, we are aware of the level of our rivals, but we know what to do, we have already demonstrated it in the past. We know perfectly the potential of our riders, Álvaro Bautista and Nicolò Bulega, who have been World Champions in several categories and who in 2024 fought for the World Championship until the end and were competitive in almost every race with the Panigale V4 R. We can’t wait to see Álvaro and Nicolò take to the track with the new liveries in the next tests in Australia and in the first race at Phillip Island, a truly special track. Let’s not forget the Team and Manufacturer World Titles that we won last year, let’s start from here and continue in this direction. I’m sure it will be a season full of emotions, we will have a lot of fun.”

The 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign looks like it’s going to be one of the closest ever with six manufacturers all staking their claim this season. After Honda ended last season strongly, including taking a rostrum at Estoril with Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC), they will be hoping both the #7 and teammate Xavi Vierge can start the new campaign strongly. It’s been a big change over the winter for the Japanese manufacturer, with a new suspension supplier coming in, as Honda looks for a positive start but also aiming to keep their momentum going.

In recent seasons, Honda have tended to start a season well or end a season well, but rarely have they managed to start and end a campaign well. In 2024, they were well off the pace when the season kicked off but made big steps throughout the season to be in a position where they could challenge for rostrums in the final few rounds; something they achieved with Lecuona standing on the podium at the Circuito Estoril. In testing, despite the #7’s absence at Jerez through injury, it has looked as though Honda will start the season roughly where it ended 2024: a consistent presence in the top ten, perhaps challenging for the occasional podium. The next question is whether they can do in 2025 what they did in 2024 and take big steps throughout the season.

For the 2022 season, Honda had an overhaul of riders and suppliers, bringing in Lecuona and Vierge while opting to move to Showa suspension. There’s been some change over the 2025 winter too, although less extreme as the rider line-up stays the same, as they move back to Ohlins suspension; the brand they used when they returned to WorldSBK as a full-factory team in 2020. It shows Honda’s quest for success is still ongoing but they’re leaving no stone unturned as they look to celebrate success in WorldSBK.

Vierge has been Honda’s benchmark throughout January testing at Jerez and Portimao, with Lecuona missing the Jerez test and not being fully fit at Portimao through a winter training injury. Vierge was seventh on Day 1 in the dry in Spain and second in the wet on Day 2, before finishing P7 on Day 1 at Portimao and ninth on Day 2. Lecuona only tested in Portugal but was ahead of Vierge in the wet, although in the dry, the #97 was the faster of the two.

Both riders, throughout winter, gave their thoughts about the season ahead. Vierge stated at Jerez: “I’m really excited for a new season. My feeling was that, compared to last year, the base setup of the bike is a little bit better compared to 2024, which, at the end of the season, was quite good. I’m really looking forward to starting this new season and I hope to be fighting inside the top six and to make this last step to fight for podiums regularly.”

Lecuona added when speaking at Portimao: “The first goal is to be 100% ready, mentally and physically. If I’m honest, the first goal is to give the same performance that we had for most of the end of last year; every race we learnt and improved. Finally, we got a podium. I don’t want to say, ‘every race on the podium’, but I want to be there, the last one of the first group like last year.”

Team Manager Jose Escamez was optimistic of success in 2025, saying in Spain: “I’m confident that we can keep the momentum that we’ve had since mid-season of 2024. I expect that we can keep improving which we’ve been doing lately. I think that it’s not easy, of course, as the other manufacturers are going to be really strong as they have always proved. At the moment, I’m positive and I’m confident. The target is always to win but that’s a really hard part of this job. As long as we can keep improving every time, it’s going to be good.”

During the team’s season launch video, Escamez also revealed that there would be closer ties between Honda Europe and the manufacturer’s test team. He stated when asked about European facilities: “Actually, we’ve had a logistical base in Europe since the very beginning of this project. It’s true that this year we are going to increase this collaboration with Honda Europe, which will be more involved with our test team and the development of the bike. We are putting in extra effort with the aim of speeding up our work and the way we reach our goals.”