The 2026 Superbike World Championship begins its countdown. And the first event of the season will take place in Australia on the weekend of February 20 to 22. Less than three months ahead to prepare everything necessary for the teams and drivers, who before that have several days of testing ahead of them.
Now it is officially known which riders, if there are no setbacks, will be part of that grid in a season in which there will be important changes with respect to 2025. And it is not that the number one will not be defended by Razgatlioglu in the 2026 World Superbike Championship, it is that there are important changes on the grid.
In addition to the team changes, which are notable and start with Bautista leaving the official Ducati team, Vierge and Lecuona leaving the Honda team, there are also significant losses beyond Toprak himself. Illustrious names such as Jonathan Rea, Tito Rabat, Scott Redding, Michael van der Mark, Dominique Aegerter will not be present, as will Adam Norrodin and Ryan Vickers who will also be absent from 2025.
On the contrary, Miguel Oliveira, Somkiat Chantra, Jake Dixon, the WSSP champion Stefano Manzi, Alberto Surra and Mattia Rato arrive in the category, who together with the rest are the 22 official riders of the 2026 World Superbike Championship. It is striking that of the 14 registered teams, only seven have two riders, the rest will only be present with one.
It is also striking that among these teams will be the Petronas MIE Racing Honda, the second team that Honda used along with the official one who now becomes the only one with the CBR1000RR. In the same way, it is confirmed that Andrea Iannone will have her own structure, Cainam Racing Team, a play on her nom de guerre “Maniac”.
Official riders of the 2026 Superbike World Championship
5 – Yari Montela – Barni Spark Racing Team
7 – Iker Lecuona – Aruba.it Racing Ducati
9 – Danilo Petrucci – ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
11 – Nicolo Bulega – Aruba.it Racing Ducati
13 – Mattia Rato – Motoxracing WorldSBK Team
14 – Sam Lowes – ELF Marc VDS Racing Team
19 – Álvaro Bautista – Barni Spark Racing Team
22 – Alex Lowes – bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team
29 – Andrea Iannone – Cainam Racing Team
31 – Garret Gerloff – Kawasaki WorldSBK Team
34 – Lorenzo Baldassarrri – Team Goeleven
35 – Somkiat Chantra – Honda HRC
47 – Axel Bassani – bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team
54 – Bahatin Sofuoglu – Motoxracing WorldSBK Team
55 – Andrea Locatelli – Pata Maxus Yamaha
62 – Stefano Manzi – GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team
67 – Alberto Surra – Motocorsa Racing
87 – Remmy Gardner – GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team
88 – Miguel Oliveira – ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
96 – Jake Dixon – Honda HRC
95 – Tarran Mackenzie – MGM Racing Performance
97 – Xavi Vierge – Pata Maxus Yamaha
