After parting ways with Michael Rinaldi last season, Motocorsa Racing took a chance on a British star in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship who had distinguished himself among the ranks of British Superbike especially in 2024, winning seven races and featuring on the podium 13 times. Vickers put pen to paper with Motocorsa to become their sole rider, however, for him, the deal was more than just a new job. Vickers moved to Italy in the offseason to help get up to speed with the bike and foster a relationship with his team and build continuity. Now at the season’s midway point, while he has had his share of struggles adapting to WorldSBK, that continuity looks like it may be beginning to pay dividends.

With six rounds out of twelve in the rear-view mirror, Vickers has begun to place in the point-scoring positions with increased regularity. Most recently, at Misano, the 26-year-old British rider raked in his biggest points haul from a single round of the season so far thanks to his P13 in Race 1 and P11 in Race 2. Despite the challenges the #17 has faced, if he can continue this forward momentum, he may make an already stacked grid even more competitive.

TOUGH COMPETITION: “This year in particular is probably one of the most competitive years the Championship has had, the level is so, so high”

On his expectations prior to starting with Motocorsa and how he feels their project has gone so far, Vickers said: “It's difficult prior to the season to lay any expectations and, and actually know where you're going to be because 1), I've never done it before, and 2), you never know how long it's going to take to adapt and how difficult the challenges are ahead. I obviously knew that I've got to learn new circuits, I've got a new bike to learn, I've got new electronics to learn. But you never know how long these things are going to take. It's probably taking a bit longer than what I thought originally to get the hang of riding the Ducati and its electronics. This year in particular is probably one of the most competitive years the Championship has had, the level is so, so high. The lap times are crazy fast, so much faster than last year, even when the bikes haven't changed a lot. The level has just gotten higher. It's been different to come into it, and we are progressing. The results haven't really shown too much other than Misano, where had a bit of a bit of a breakthrough there; but every weekend we have been improving ourselves.  We're just waiting for the results to start showing, which is obviously difficult, but we're closing the gap every time.”

NEW ELECTRONICS: “The most difficult thing for me as a rider is not just trying to ride around problems…”

One of the biggest hurdles for Vickers came in the form of the highly optimized Ducati V4R electronics, and how that contrasts his prior experienced with the relatively more restrictive British Superbikes electronics. Vickers said: “It's completely different. The most difficult thing for me as a rider is not just trying to ride around problems, because in BSB the electronics are very basic, whereas with WorldSBK electronics are set up corner by corner, so you can pretty much make the bike have a perfect setup for every corner in the track. In BSB I spent 5 or 6 years riding round on bikes where you know the bike isn't going to be perfect in all of the areas and you learn to ride around problems. It’s a good skill to have, but at this point it's held us back a little bit because as soon as you ride slightly different on the WorldSBK bike, the electronics automatically adapt to how you're riding, and it can cause things to not work correctly.”

Vickers continued: “Unless you ride the bike exactly how you need to, a very high level, they don't work correctly because they're set within parameters to achieve the maximum. To achieve the maximum, you have to do it in a certain way, and you have to brake with so much force, and apply the rear brake in the correct time and open throttle at the correct time. If you don't do all of these things, then it's the worst bike you could possibly ride.

VICKERS ON MOVING TO ITALY: “I think it helps the transition in the sense of having a relationship with the team”

The #17’s growth is not limited to his on-track exploits either. To chase his dream and facilitate learning as much as possible, Vickers moved to Italy and feels that that decision has helped him acclimate both physically and socially with his team. Vickers said: “I think it helps the transition in the sense of having a relationship with the team. A few other British riders have come over and given WorldSBK a go and it seems like it would be hard to have a relationship with the team because they only see them on a race weekend. But it's not the same. If you if you only see a friend once every two weeks, or you try to become friends with someone and you only ever see him once every two or three weeks, it's quite difficult. If you see someone three times a week and you go motocross riding with them or you pop into the workshop to try a new seat pad, you gain a really strong relationship, more of a personal relationship, which helps especially being an English rider on an Italian team. I'm glad that I've done that. I think that will help in our progression. I'm really happy that I've moved out here. Another massive advantage of moving out here is the heat, I was in the gym on Monday morning and the air temperature in the gym was 38 degrees. If I was living in the UK, I see people saying ‘It’s roasting hot and it's 27 degrees’. That was a hot day for me last year. But it's, it only gets down to 29° at the coldest time of night here.”

MISANO IMPROVEMENTS: “It just shows how much a little bit of track experience helps”

Misano looked like a positive step for the Brit, who now with growing consistency has been earning points, however a focal point where he wants to improve are in his Tissot Superpole times. On Misano, Vickers said: “It was good, It just shows how much a little bit of track experience helps, we did a 2-day test there and I've never been to Misano before those two days. It allowed us to develop the bike a little bit to suit me, it allowed me to understand how to ride better with the electronics and also learn my way around Misano. When we arrived there on the race weekend, we already knew that everything is working quite well. It was difficult because the temperature was so, so high on the race weekend. We had to move away a little bit away from what we learned during the test because in the hot conditions it wasn't working. By the last race my feeling was really good, and we were able to finish with a really strong result. That not only gives credit to the team for giving me a great bike in these tricky conditions, but it values our fitness because it's not easy and to be strong in those conditions.

Catch Vickers in his home round July 11t-13^th, tune in with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 50% off!