News

The Riders’ Championship may have been decided with two races to spare in the 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season but the season was full of competitive action up and down the grid as seven different riders stood on the top step of the podium for the first since 2013 as three manufacturers won races throughout the season.

The season started in Australia at Phillip Island and instantly showed how competitive the season was going to be as three winners emerged from the opening three races of the season as Turkish sensation Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) claimed his maiden Yamaha victory in his first race for the Japanese manufacturer, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed his first victory of the season and teammate Alex Lowes won during his debut KRT weekend. The thrilling three races Down Under set the tone for the rest of the season and it did not relent when the season was able to restart at Jerez.

Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) became the fourth winner in four races when he took Race 1 victory at Jerez at the start of August as he started his season with consecutive podium finishes as he mounted a title challenge in his rookie WorldSBK campaign. The next few race wins were shared between Rea and Redding, including Rea taking a hat-trick at Portimao as he bounced back in style from a challenging Race 2 at Jerez.

As WorldSBK moved to a double header at MotorLand Aragon, for the Aragon and Teruel Rounds, there was a brand new winner in the form of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) claimed a stunning first WorldSBK victory in Race 1 at the Teruel Round, winning by almost six seconds ahead of Rea. It would be Rinaldi’s only win of the season, but he claimed three podiums across the round.

The first ever Catalunya Round brought WorldSBK its sixth and seventh winners of the 2020 season as Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) claimed the fourth victory of his career with a Tissot Superpole Race win at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as he became the sixth winner of the season. Later that afternoon, Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) became the seventh and final different winner with Race 2 victory – following that up with an emotional farewell to Ducati with Race 2 victory at Estoril.

For the first time since 2013, seven different riders stood on the top step of the rostrum when Tom Sykes, Eugene Laverty, Marco Melandri, Chaz Davies, Sylvain Guintoli, Jonathan Rea and Loris Baz all claimed podiums throughout the season. It shows how competitive the 2020 season was with three factory teams having both riders take at least one victory, while Ducati also had Independent machinery stand on the top step of the podium.

You can watch these moments and more from 2020 with the WorldSBK VideoPass!