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The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season is well-and-truly upon us, with a whole host of stories to watch out for. The rivalry between Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) promises to be more intense, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) has his sights on a title charge for Ducati, whilst Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) will hope to put BMW back on top on a regular basis. Then, there’s Team HRC with their rookies Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, plus a whole host of Independent riders. 2022 could be one of the best yet, and WorldSBK Executive Director Gregorio Lavilla agreed. We spoke with him about 2022, the progress made in recent years, the new testing concessions and the World Supersport ‘Next Generation’ as he previews the season to come.

2022 SET TO BE BIGGER AND BETTER: “I’m confident it can be even closer!”

“I think it’s going to be a great year which is going to be very important, because for the last two years, we’ve faced the pandemic situation worldwide. Even if the show was great and the racing was spectacular, it was a shame that the fans couldn’t attend all of the rounds. The restrictions are being lifted and it looks like we can have our normal crowds again. On the racing, I think it will remain at the same level as last year and I’m confident it can be even closer! Maybe we have a surprise and in the first race, we have all five manufacturers at the front fighting, this will be my wish. We want to get the show to the general public, so that they come to the Paddock Show, the new podium ceremony and all of the new features that we’ve got for the 2022 season.”

ROAD TO SUCCESS: “I started on this project ten years ago… we’re in a very good position now”

“I started on this project ten years ago and since then, we have changed a lot of things and this has benefited the sport and the Championship. In the words of the manufacturers, they’re really happy with the situation we achieved with regards to the balancing and the competitivity. I’m also happy because of the complete grid; in the past seasons, we had Independent teams fighting for victories and podiums and achieving amazing results. This is something that we thought would be impossible to achieve when we came to the Championship in 2013. The path has been great and not easy, but I think we’re in a very good position now.”

WorldSSP’s NEXT GENERATION: “The benefits can be in many areas; there’s much more to come!”

“It’s important to say that our Championship is based on what the market requires, so we are seeing the market evolving and changing and it’s important that WorldSBK follows this. We are based on production bikes, so we need to listen to what the manufacturers want to expose. It’s been five or six years since I started talking to manufacturers about their ideas on the class and on their projects. We also looked at national championships, as we like the idea that they are feeding our Championship, to give more possibilities to the riders. We started seeing interest from the manufacturers that are now here, but this brought the complexity of how to balance all of these things. This must succeed, because we are not with a white paper, saying exactly what the bike should be. We have models with different ideologies, different torque levels, top speed, rideability etc, so we must adapt to the differences and transform it into something feasible in sporting ways.”

“The benefits can be in many areas; there’s much more to come! This woke up a lot of manufacturers who weren’t involved and they’ve gone, ‘wow, maybe I can do this’ so it’s a challenging season because we need to show that the idea works and for sure we will have complexities, but we will put our best efforts and knowledge into making it work as everyone expects, but I see a great platform and great future for this category.”

WorldSBK TESTING CONCESSIONS: “Honda and BMW will get six extra days”

“Basically, the MSMA requested this year to us that if we could reduce or put a limit on half day testing. So, we agreed, of course. We have a concession points system which dictates what evolution you can do through the season and off-season one year to another, considering that you have not changed the bike or there’s not a new homologation. The manufacturers that were not within this gap were Honda and BMW; they will get six extra days from the basic allocation compared to the others, but this can be reverted once they start scoring nine concession points. That means that they’ve been on the podium regularly, so at this point is when it will be getting reduced.”

Watch the 2022 season in style with the comprehensive WorldSBK VideoPass!