2026 World Superbike Preview

The 39th season of the World Superbike gets underway in just one month’s time. The preseason has seen major changes in the rider market, none more so than reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu departing for MotoGP. As such, 2026 has set the stage for a new name to potentially claim title glory come the end of the year.

The preseason title favourite is undoubtedly Aruba Ducati’s Niccolo Bulega. The Italian rider has finished runner-up for the past two seasons, and at one stage looked set to usurp Razgatioglu in 2025. However, last season was not to be for Bulega, as he was unable to hold off Razgatioglu and the BMW package once they hit their stride.

Bulega will be joined in the Aruba Ducati garage by former MotoGP rider, Iker Lecuona. Lecuona has spent the last four seasons struggling to make Honda’s Superbike effort into a consistent podium contender. Just two podiums, a pole position, and a championship peak of 9th highlight how much of a struggle the Spaniard’s World Superbike tenure has been thus far.

The move is set to provide Lecuona with, by far, the most competitive package he has raced thus far – and as such an opportunity to repay Ducati’s faith in him. Though it is yet unclear if he has been brought in to play number two to Bulega, or if he will be given a shot at the title should he contend for it.

BMW heads into 2026 with an all-new lineup in its factory squad. Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci will be at the helm of Shaun Muir’s factory BMW effort for 2026. Miguel Oliveira swaps seats with Toprak Razgatioglu, who replaces him at Pramac Yamaha in MotoGP. The move to Superbikes could be the career reset that the Portuguese rider needs to finally live up to the promise that saw him finish runner-up in Moto2 and Moto3. Despite winning five races in MotoGP, Oliveira never quite managed to put together a full season – often finding himself at the wrong end of other riders’ incidents.

Danilo Petrucci moves to BMW after three strong seasons as a satellite Ducati rider with the Barni squad. Seven podiums in 2025 saw the Italian in contention for a top-three position overall, before injury brought a premature end to Petrucci’s season. A promising first test with BMW bodes well for the veteran Italian, who could very well be a dark horse for this coming year.

Honda also has an all-new rider lineup for 2026. Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra both make the move over from the Grand Prix paddock to spearhead HRC’s official Superbike effort. After twenty-two podiums, including seven victories during a seven-year stint in Moto2, Dixon returns to production racing. The British rider will be hoping to lead the official Honda squad to new heights, after a tricky few seasons for the Japanese marque.

After a difficult rookie season in MotoGP, Thailand’s Somkiat Chantra becomes his country’s first full-time World Superbike rider. It’s easy to forget how good Chantra was on his day in Moto2, so you should expect the Thai to challenge towards the front once he finds his feet on the Fireblade.

The official HRC outfit will be the only full-time Honda entry on the grid for 2026, the MIE Honda squad absent from the 2026 entry list.

Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli is joined by former Honda rider Xavi Vierge for 2026. Locatelli had a strong 2025, a year in which he finally claimed his first Superbike win. The Italian has been the lead Yamaha rider for the last two seasons, as the now-retired Jonathan Rea endured a torrid two years in blue.

Xavi Vierge will fill the boots of the former six-time world champion, and will hope for better fortunes with the Iwata factory than the Northern Irishman. Vierge makes the move across from Honda, where the Spaniard showed he is good enough for the podium when the bike allowed it. Yamaha’s recent struggles to match Ducati and BMW mean it is yet to be determined how much of an upgrade the R1 will be compared to the Fireblade. Nevertheless, Yamaha heads into 2026 with an exciting pairing that should challenge at the sharp end, should the bike be capable.

Bimota had, by all standards, an excellent return to World Superbikes in 2025. Both Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani showed they could run right at the very front and be somewhat of a threat to Ducati and BMW. Lowes and Bassani both remain with the works Bimota squad for 2026.  Lowes had an exceptional season in 2025, finishing on the podium several times. Bassani, on the other hand, showed excellent pace at points, but just lacked the last bit to bring the bike home on the podium. Both riders will surely be looking to build on the groundwork laid down last year.

With the Provec team switching from the factory Kawasaki outfit to Bimota’s, Puccetti took on the role of the official Kawasaki team in 2025. Garett Gerloff joined the team as the sole rider. Despite looking very strong in preseason testing results didn’t quite materialise in the early part of the season for the American. A solid mid-part of the year saw Gerloff become a consistent top-eight challenger. The American rider remains with the team for the coming year, aboard a new-look ZX10R. Both rider and team will be hoping for better fortunes in 2026.

Sam Lowes and Marc VDS Ducati return for a third season in the World Superbike class. After a difficult rookie season in 2024, Lowes finally found his feet in Superbikes and became a regular podium contender. 2025 ended with Brit eighth in the overall standings and the second independent team rider.

Alvaro Bautista finds himself an independent team rider for 2026. The former two-time World Superbike champion will line up with the Barni Ducati squad for this coming year. 2025 was the first season Bautista hadn’t won at least won race as a Ducati rider in the Superbike class. Although winless, Bautista still ended 2025 third overall. The Barni squad have been the leading satellite outfit for the past several seasons, so although no longer a factory rider, Bautista has a good chance to challenge for victories.

Tarran Mackenzie, Andrea Iannone, Alberto Surra and Lorenzo Baldassari are all set to line up aboard satellite Ducatis in 2026. Mackenzie returning with the MGM squad, Iannone will run himself under the Caniam banner, whilst Surra and Baldassari will compete for MotoCorsa and Go Eleven respectively.

Reigning World Supersport champion Stefano Manzi, joins Remi Gardner at the GTR Yamaha squad, whilst reigning CIV Supersport champion Mattia Rato joins Bahattin Sofouglu at the Moto X outfit.

The 2026 World Superbike kicks into life on the 21st of February at the iconic Phillip Island circuit.