The primary seats are now all spoken for in WorldSBK. Yesterday's announcement that Michael van der Mark would partner Toprak Razgatlioglu at the official BMW Motorrad squad is likely to be followed very soon by confirmation from Kawasaki has tabbed Axel Bassani as Jonathan Rea's replacement.
The only factory seats to be decided at the HRC squad. Their line-up is all but certain to remain as Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona, with both having signed Honda contracts already. The only delay on announcing their pairing for 2024 is that until Marc Marquez confirms his future, Honda wants to have the option to move Lecuona to the LCR squad in MotoGP. Lecuona would then replace Johann Zarco, who would be promoted into the Repsol Honda team.
As a result all five factories in WorldSBK have effectively penned their squads for next year. The confirmation that Scott Redding would move to the independent BMW of the Bonovo team was significant for a number of reasons. Redding was under contract but at the centre of plenty of speculation for next year. Kawasaki was an obvious target for him to replace the departing Rea, but ultimately with Kawasaki lasered in on Bassani, this option disappeared quickly.
