Sportbike: Yamaha backs Thompson and Di Persio, Kawasaki fields MTM with Veneman and Artigas

The countdown begins for the first historic edition of the Sportbike World Championship. The new class arouses a lot of curiosity and is seen as a genuine springboard towards Supersport and Superbike.

The grid is starting to take shape even though official confirmations are still few. Yamaha will mainly bank on the 300 vice world champion, Carter Thompson. The Australian will race with the former BR Corse team. Also worth following is Alessandro Di Persio, the young rider who dominated the 2025 FIM Yamaha R3 BLU CRU World Cup with Arco Motor University, the team with which he will embark on his new adventure in the Sportbike World Championship.

"We already know that the R7 is an excellent platform for racing in the R7 Cup in Europe and in WorldWCR, and the Yamaha Motor Europe Motorsport R&D team has worked hard on developing the race kit for the new Sportbike category," comments Niccolò Canepa, Head of Road Racing Sports, Motorsport Division, Yamaha Motor Europe. "The initial tests have been very positive, with Locatelli and Manzi really enjoying the bike. Our goal, as always, is to win. We are very pleased to have signed the 2025 WorldSSP300 runner-up, Carter Thompson, a young rider with great talent. The new Sportbike championship will be an integral part of Yamaha’s growth philosophy, with the winner of the R3 BLU CRU World Cup earning a spot in this series. Alessandro Di Persio will be the first rider to ‘step up’ from the R3 Cup to Sportbike. We can’t wait to see what he can do."

Kawasaki heads into Sportbike with several top-level teams. The Belgian team MTM Kawasaki, led by Ludo Van der Veken, has announced its participation with the new Ninja ZX‑6R 636 and two riders already well known in the paddock: young Dutchman Loris Veneman and Spaniard Xavi Artigas. Veneman is 19 and has taken part in 40 World Supersport 300 races, scoring 10 podiums, including 4 wins. In 2025 he also made some appearances in Supersport. Artigas, born in 2003, has an European Talent Cup title to his name. From 2021 to 2023 he raced in Moto3, taking one victory and a total of three podiums. In 2024 he raced in Moto2 but without luck. After moving to the Italian Supersport Championship, in the most recent season he contested several WorldSSP races, first as a wild card and then as a replacement.

Kove Racing Team 109, as already announced, will take part in the Sportbike World Championship with Benat Fernandez, the reigning 300 world champion with the Chinese manufacturer.