The long winter period may be in full swing but there is still time to look back at the 2023 WorldSBK Championship season as BSN brings you our rundown of the Top 10 WorldSBK Riders of the Year.

Into the top six now, first up in sixth is Andrea Locatelli

While it’s probably not quite what he was aiming for at the start of the season, Andrea Locatelli consolidated his status as an ideal foil alongside Toprak Razgatlioglu in the Pata Crescent Yamaha team in 2023.

Granted, ticking the box as the ideal ‘second rider’ to complement a factory team’s primary #1 focus - if you wanted to put it that way - doesn’t sound like a terribly favourable assessment (or role) but Locatelli certainly played a pivotal one in Crescent Racing coming agonisingly close to upsetting Aruba.it Racing in the teams’ title race.

His third season in WorldSBK, this was also Locatelli’s strongest campaign yet too, no doubt a relief for the Italian following a slump in form during the latter half of 2022.

Blips here and there notwithstanding - particularly in qualifying - Locatelli was metronomically consistent at nearly all circuits, supplementing it with the odd burst of rapid pace, most notably at Imola and Aragon.

While he never had the measure of Alvaro Bautista or Razgatlioglu, Locatelli held his own against Jonathan Rea - particularly during the first third of the season - with eight trips to the podium earning him a career-best fourth in the final standings.

With another two-year deal in his back pocket going into 2024, the exit of Razgatlioglu now gives Locatelli the ideal opportunity to stamp his mark on a promotion from #2 to #1 rider within the Yamaha fold before new team-mate Rea gets there before him.

First objective though? Get that elusive first WorldSBK win.

BSN’s Top 10 WorldSBK Riders of 2023

7 - Michael Ruben Rinaldi

8 - Garrett Gerloff

9 - Dominique Aegerter

10 - Alex Lowes