Alvaro Bautista b🌱acked up his first WorldSBK title with an even more dominant display in 202🐻3. 

The factory Ducati rider won 27 races, ten more than the previous record for a single season which was set by Jonathan Rea in both 2019 and 2018, along with Doug Polen who achieved 1🐻7 wins in 1991.

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Next best was Toprak Razgatlioglu on six, showing just how dominant Bautis🧸ta was🌠 throughout the campaign. 

But what are the biggest storylines heading in𓃲to 2023 as Bautista looks to make it a hat-trick?

Can Razgatlioglu take BMW to title contention?

BMW’s hopes ofꦬ becoming a title threat with the addition of Scott Redding in 2022 have simply not worke🍌d out.

In fact, BMW, outside of some impressive perf☂ormances at individual rounds, have largely remained behind Ducati, Kawasaki and Yamaha.

Redding and Michael Van Der Mark are both more 🐼than capable of challenging for race wins, but the machinery has to be right, which it has nꦯot.

That said, th🔜eir bike does have very strong points and to their credit, they haven’t had one of the top three riders on their bike as of yet.

That however will all change ne🤪xt season as arguably the best rider in Superbikes is hoping aboard the M 1000 RR.

Razgatlioglu has incredible talent, the likes we’v✤e never seen before when it comes to certain aspects of riding a motorcycle.

Time will be needed, and it’s likely that a title challenge will have to wait until 2025, but if there’s one rider who could change that then it’s Razgatlioglu🏅. 

What should we expect from Andrea Iannone

Back from his four-year ban and ready to make noise on the world stage once again, Iannone will have ple🥀nty of eyes placed upon him in 2024.

The Italian, who is also💎 an incredible talent, won’t be expected to do mꦺore than just find his feet during the opening couple of rounds.

B🔯ut beyond that, challenging for big points and podiums could and perhaps should be 🔥a realistic aim.

Danilo Petrucci and Dominique Aegerter both scored podiums as rookies♑ this past season, so Iannone wou🍸ld do well to replicate that type of potential.

That said, Iannone is also 𝔍on a Ducati (as is Petrucci) and together with his ability, the former MotoGP rider could even be a threat for race wins if he adapts to the class like many believe he can.

Is Rea set to be Bautista’s main challenge?

If Razgatlioglu and BMW don’t hit the ground running, Rea could be the rider to sustain a serious title challenge after switꦅching Kawasaki for 💞Yamaha.

The six-time world champion has already been in𓆉 top form during his two tests with the Japanese brand.

More𝓰 adaptation will be needed of course, but the early signs point toward Rea and the R1 being a ⛄good match. 

What to expect from Nicolo Bulega and can he push Bautista further than Michael Ruben Rinaldi?

Aruba.it Ducati made a big decisio👍n to replace Rinaldi with the current WorldSSP champion.

Rinaldi once again proved his worth this season as he became the only rider outside of Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Rea to wi🌼n a race.

But Bulega is a big talent and Ducati’s viewpoint is that they wanted the strongest possible team-mate to Baut🔯ista.

Whether that will be Bulega is yet t🌄o be determined, but the Italian was i♐mpressive at his first official WorldSBK test.

Challenging for podiums will be the requirement from Ducati, not beating Bautista, however, every rider wants to one-up their team-mate, and who bette෴r than the world champion to do that agaꦫinst.