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The three World Champions from inside the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship were celebrated and honoured during the traditional end-of-season FIM Awards Ceremony, hosted in Rimini, Italy. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team) were all present at the ceremony as they received their FIM medals for their incredible success this year. You can watch the FULL ceremony HERE.

The ceremony was hosted by two-time WorldSBK Champion James Toseland, alongside Barbara Pedrotti, and was attended by more than 800 people to celebrate the achievements of the 2022 FIM World Champions from six different disciplines, with Bautista, Aegerter and Diaz on hand to collect their medals after an incredible season for the trio; all three made history at various points throughout their respective campaigns.

Bautista was able to celebrate ending Ducati’s win drought of Riders’ Championships which had stretched back to 2011, and they ended that drought in style this season with the Riders’, Manufacturers’ and Teams’ Championships. It was Bautista’s second World Championship title, after his 125cc World Championship success in 2006, and his first with Ducati after returning to the Bologna-based manufacturer for this season.

Speaking on stage, Bautista said: “It has been an amazing season with lots of battles with Jonathan and Toprak. I enjoyed it a lot. I’m so happy because to beat them is not easy! I came back to Ducati because, in my first year, I enjoyed the bike so much. Maybe I was missing some experience with the tyres and the category, so I lost the Championship. This season was different. I knew the bike the tyres more and also Ducati improved the bike which, three years ago, was quite new.”

Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) became only the third rider to claim back-to-back WorldSSP titles after continuing in 2022 where he ended 2021. Aegerter claimed 27 wins in his two seasons in WorldSSP, only behind five-time Champion Kenan Sofuoglu in the stats charts, including 19 out of a possible 24 in the 2022 season as he took his second title with his achievements celebrated in Rimini.

Aegerter also spoke during the ceremony. He said: “I had an amazing season. I was riding in two categories and in WorldSSP, I could dominate quite well. I won 17 races out of 24 and 19 podiums. Without a great team and a great family, I could never do that. Now I’m happy to move up to WorldSBK and I hope I can achieve some great results there.”

It was a record-breaking season for Diaz in WorldSSP300 as he took his first title in the Championship, breaking records for podiums in a season as his consistency helped him to the 2022 title. Like with Bautista and Aegerter, he received his medal for his World Championship success at the glamorous ceremony as he celebrated his 2022 title in style.

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