WELCOME to WorldSBK
JORGE VIEGAS FIM PRESIDENT
Staged over twelve rounds in nine countries across two continents, the 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship will push riders, their machines and their teams to the absolute limit over eight incredibly intensive months.
After making it back-to-back titles in 2025 to add to the crown he first won in 2021, Turkish hero Toprak Razgatlioglu became just the fourth rider in the sport’ s history to win three or more titles and having made another entry into the discipline’ s record books he has now switched his focus to MotoGP.
This means we will have a new champion and the contenders from eight nations and four continents – led by Italy’ s Nicolò Bulega who last year pushed Razgatlioglu all the way to the final round – lining up to fight for the crown with real strength in depth in an entry that also includes Spain’ s two-time champion Álvaro Bautista.
On behalf of the FIM I would like to thank all who make the championship possible including our promoter Dorna WSBK Organisation, the national federations and local organisers, FIM officials, the riders and teams, the manufacturers, volunteers, the media, all associated partners and sponsors and fans.
GREGORIO LAVILLA CHAMPIONSHIP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
It gives me immense pleasure to welcome you all to the opening round of the 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the always popular Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
The start of this particular WorldSBK season promises to be a very significant one, in what is the most prestigious production-derived FIM World Championship of all. A new era will begin at Phillip Island, after several changes in personnel and rider line-ups, for both Official and Independent Teams. The eyes of racing fans all over the world will surely be turned towards this round.
After another 2025 thrilling season in WorldSBK we are really excited to see our hero’ s back in action for what could be another step ahead in terms of excitement, adrenaline and success.
WorldSSP has flourished to a highly visible degree since the introduction of the‘ Next Generation’ rules, which allowed many more types and sizes of productionderived machines to find true competitiveness. In 2026 the number of manufacturers in WorldSSP has risen to eight, with the welcome addition of a second Chinese manufacturer. This new development adds the name of ZXMOTO to existing entries from QJ MOTOR, Yamaha, Triumph, Ducati, MV Agusta, Kawasaki and Honda.
Another new on-track element in 2026, although not present at PI or some rounds in Europe, will be the FIM Sportbike World Championship. Similar to the WorldSSP Next Generation initiative, this new class has been introduced to allow a wider variety of manufacturers to compete within the overall WorldSBK family. Six manufacturers- Aprilia, Kawasaki, Kove, Suzuki, Triumph and Yamaha- will have representation in the new class during its first year of racing life.
The FIM Women’ s Circuit Racing World Championship provided a fabulous second season of competition in 2025, and it should go from strength to strength once again at selected rounds in Europe.
As we enter what feels like a new and fresh era in the overall WorldSBK paddock, I offer my sincere thanks to all the competing manufacturers, teams and riders, plus our valued sponsors and partners for their continued relationships with WorldSBK. An equally high level of thanks goes out to the respective National and Local Governments, the FIM, all the host venues, marshals, volunteers and support staff for the vital roles they play during every single WorldSBK season.
WorldSBK RIDERS
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