The first few rounds were hotly contested between Barrier, Eddi La Marra and his teammate and former Superstock 1000 champion Niccolò Canepa.
Unfortunately for La Marra, he would have a massive accident during testing which left him with in a coma and unable to complete the final three rounds of the championship on his Ducati Panigale.
Barrier won 5 of the 9 races to retain his championship title, doing so at his home event at Magny-Cours.
Despite skipping the final round at Jerez – to compete in the Superbike World Championship event – Barrier beat Canepa to the title by 24 points, with Jérémy Guarnoni a further point behind in third place.
[1][2] On 8 March 2013, the FIM issued a definitive calendar, confirming rounds at Portimão and Imola that were previously subject to contract, as well as reducing the number of venues from ten to nine,[3] but a second race was later added to the schedule of the Silverstone round.