2023 BSB Champion Tommy Bridewell says electronics is his main area to work on as he tries to adapt from BSB to WorldSBK.
Bridewell is not a complete stranger to WorldSBK and rode in the championship as recently as last September when he filled in for Iker Lecuona at the factory Honda team.
But 2026, with the Superbike Advocates team, will be Bridewell’s first in the championship as a full-time rider, even though he missed the first round in Australia last month.
Bridewell has had a chance to test the bike in WorldSBK trim, most recently at the Portimao test on 9–10 March, where he discovered a similar thing to almost all riders who step from BSB to WorldSBK: that the world championship electronics are the biggest thing to get his head around.
“I don’t want to sound cliche, but I’ve never ridden a bike like our Ducati Panigale V4 R,” Bridewell said, speaking to WorldSBK.com.
“I’ve ridden a lot of bikes in my career, but I thought ‘Wow, this is good’.
“Its electronics are where the advantage is, and that’s where I need to work.
“I felt good on the bike from the very start.
“It’s an open book with Ducati; you're given a laptop with essentially all the data on other riders. We saw the data compared to Nicolo [Bulega], where I was stronger, and where he was stronger.
“It makes our lives a lot easier; we’re not out on our own.
“There are eight other teams whose data we can look at. At the moment we don’t need to reinvent the wheel, so we are shooting for a good weekend.
“I am here to do well in the championship, and that’s what I’m expecting for myself. I want to see a clear progression this season.”
Bridewell added that he is “under no illusion” about the size of the challenge awaiting him this season.
“I’m feeling great, I’m very optimistic and excited for this opportunity,” he said.
“It was a bit of a pipe dream a while ago; at a test here a while ago I said to the guys that we should do WorldSBK and we haven’t looked back since.
“Sadly, we missed Australia and we only had about 10 dry laps on the bike, and I’m under no illusion that it won’t be a tough challenge.
“But in my career, I’ve always gravitated towards challenges and, for some reason, it’s what I beeline to and thrive off of.”
