The 2025 rookie class of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has been hard at work adapting to the Championship. Rookies Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team), Ryan Vickers (Motocorsa Racing), Zaqhwan Zaidi (PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team), and Bahattin Sofuoglu (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) each have their unique circumstances; however, what is universal to these riders is the drive to make their mark on the competition and announce themselves to the WorldSBK grid.

MONTELLA'S STRONG RECENT FORM: 5 top ten finishes

Italian rookie Montella has quickly settled into his place alongside WorldSBK star Danilo Petrucci in the Barni Ducati garage. So far in 2025, he sits in sixteenth place in the Riders’ Championship, thanks in part to having earned six top-ten finishes, more than any other rookie. He has so far taken away points from 8 of this season’s 15 races, and at the most recent test Misano, he was even faster than Petrucci across both days. This may put a feather in the cap of the 25-year-old as he gets set for his home round and looks for more consistency in his top-ten placements.

BAHATTIN SOFUOGLU ON THE BUBBLE: Battling for point-scoring positions

After three years in WorldSSP, Bahattin Sofuoglu made the leap to WorldSBK this last offseason. Not quite having landed the same strong finishes as Montella, he finds himself one position ahead of Vickers, both riders frequently battling on the bubble around P15. A good step for the Turkish rider would be if he can finish with consistency in the point-scoring positions, making the rookie battle between Vickers one to watch in the latter half of the season.

RYAN VICKERS FIGHTING FOR POINTS: Growing confidence in the point-scoring positions

Having made the jump from British Superbike directly to WorldSBK, the British 26-year-old has shown competitive pace atop Motocorsa’s independent Ducati. While he has been suffering a points drought since Assen Race 1, all season, the British rider has been around the long race point-scoring cutoff position of P15. His season-best result so far was his Assen Superpole Race P10, and he sits at a P21 standing in the Riders’ Championship.

ZAQHWAN ZAIDI FINDING FOOTING:  Searching for first points

After three seasons in Asian Superbike, Zaqhwan Zaidi's WorldSBK career has gotten off to a rocky start so far. The Malaysian rider was unable to compete at Phillip Island, starting his season at Portimao Round 2. After a disrupted winter, the #21 made his race debut at Portimao, yet Zaidi is still in the hunt for his first points. He came close to scoring early in the season, finishing P16 in Race 2 at Portimao, then a subsequent P17 to open the Dutch Round. The next step for #21 is to try to cut down his times to break into the point-scoring positions, an endeavour which may be aided by the signs of improvement of the Honda CBR1000 RR-R.

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