Supersport, Can Oncu: 2026 could be his breakthrough year

With Manzi in SBK, Oncu is the heavy favorite for the SSP world title: the Turk has everything it takes to be crowned champion.

While Nicolò Bulega is tipped as the rider to beat in Superbike, in Supersport it’s Can Oncu who stands out as the benchmark on the 2026 grid. The Turkish rider was the 2025 world runner-up, defeated only by a fantastic Stefano Manzi. With the latter moving up to SBK next year, the 22-year-old from Alanya automatically becomes the favorite to claim the world crown.

After five seasons with Kawasaki, in 2025 Oncu switched to the Yamaha R9 of the Evan Bros team and in 2026 he will ride for the Pata Ten Kate team, replacing the reigning champion Manzi. The Dutch squad has won no fewer than twelve Supersport riders’ titles with names like Fabien Foret, Chris Vermeulen, Karl Muggeridge, Sebastien Charpentier (2), Kenan Sofuoglu (2), Michael van der Mark, Dominique Aegerter (2) and the aforementioned Manzi.

It’s a sure bet, the ideal structure for anyone aiming for success. This week they also had their first test together: two days at the Portimao track to prepare for the season.

Oncu is still young, but he’s entering his seventh year in the SSP World Championship and it seems the right moment has come to aim for the title. He has everything he needs, from a super competitive bike like the Yamaha R9 to a top-level team like Ten Kate Racing. Clearly, there will be rivals ready to fight him, but the Turk should be the one with the greatest overall potential.

Before joining the Ten Kate team, the 2003-born rider was also mentioned among the candidates to replace Jonathan Rea in the Yamaha factory Superbike team, where Xavi Vierge eventually landed. If he puts in a great Supersport World Championship, he will certainly have the chance to step onto the SBK grid in 2027.

That seems the natural path. But there’s another alternative that could take him back to the Grand Prix World Championship, where he already raced in Moto3 in 2019, after a sensational debut with a victory in the final race of 2018 in Valencia, where he showed up as a wild card and stunned everyone by becoming the youngest winner ever in the class (15 years and 115 days). It’s not out of the question that in 2027 he could move to Moto2 to attempt a climb toward MotoGP, where in 2026 his close friend Toprak Razgatlioglu is racing. Let’s not forget that his brother Deniz Oncu is also in Moto2, coming off a two-year stint with the Red Bull KTM Ajo team and set to join the Elf Marc VDS team in 2026. Before thinking about 2027, Can must focus on his 2026 mission: winning the Supersport World Championship title.