Kawasaki aims high: Puccetti unveils 2026 SBK and SSP ambitions

Corsedimoto’s interview with Manuel Puccetti: Kawasaki ambitious in both Superbike and Supersport.

2025 was a year of major changes for Manuel Puccetti. In World Superbike his team became Kawasaki’s official team, welcoming a new rider to the box in Garrett Gerloff. In World Supersport he fielded a rookie in Jeremy Alcoba aboard the new ZX-6R 636.

With the only ZX-10RR on the grid, Gerloff finished fifteenth (88 points) in the overall SBK standings: sixth place in Race 2 at Donington Park was his best result. Alcoba finished eighth in SSP, with his best placing being second step of the podium in Race 1 at Jerez. He had taken third in Race 2 at Estoril. Both are confirmed for 2026, but the Spaniard will also have a teammate: Dominique Aegerter, already a two-time Supersport world champion and coming off years in Superbike. Corsedimoto.com interviewed Manuel Puccetti to talk about the past season and the future.

"In Supersport the year started with some difficulties, but then we managed to straighten it out and we had a good end to the championship. At the start of the season Alcoba was coming off a hand injury and struggled, both because it was his SSP debut and because ours is the only Kawasaki on the grid, so there’s no data sharing with other teams. It took him a bit to get the measure of the new bike, which is not at all the same as the previous one. The strong finish to 2025 should be the foundation for 2026.

With Gerloff we struggled a bit at the beginning, then from mid-championship we managed to be fairly consistently in the top 10, with a few flashes here and there. We should have done more, but it wasn’t our fault either. We had the same Kawasaki as the previous year, we did more or less the same lap times as the 2025 riders did, but the front runners were much faster. The championship made a big step forward in competitiveness, we raced with last year’s bike and did what we could".

"There’s an overall update, not just the fairing with wings. Many things will arrive ahead of the first race. I think there will be a step forward in the technical package and that we can improve the results. Will you be able to have more performance on the engine side? Some details are still being finalized, but overall we expect a small step forward".

"We’d like to be consistently between sixth and eighth place. Then the goal will be to have two riders in 2027, to strengthen the team".

You wanted to double up your Superbike riders already in 2026.

"Yes, but it was only possible to do it in Supersport. For Kawasaki the Ninja 636 is one of the best-selling bikes in the world, there’s been an explosion in sales beyond expectations. They did an excellent job and asked us to push that one first and foremost, more than the new 1000. In 2026 the goal will be to be consistently in podium contention and to try to win the Supersport World Championship. Then we also want to put two Superbikes on track in 2027."

"Kawasaki wants to be a leading player in both categories. I see them very motivated to achieve the goal of being increasingly competitive".

"I think that without Toprak there will be other riders who will have the chance to show up in the podium positions, and we hope to be there too. Bulega will certainly start as a huge favorite. Then sometimes there are years that seem to be a foregone conclusion and they prove otherwise. We’ll see, it will be an interesting year".

"We need to give him a bit of time. He’s coming off three years in Superbike, so it’s not easy to adapt to a bike with many fewer horsepower. A little patience is needed—give him at least three tests. There’s an adaptation process that will certainly make him competitive".

"I was there following the tests. On one hand he impressed me, on the other I expected it: he’s a phenomenon and he proved it again. Many technicians were surprised, but he’s a rider of an incredible level and I believe he’ll also have a good rookie year. Once he learns to get a feel for the rigid MotoGP chassis, the tires, and the other new elements, he’ll be competitive. I’d like to see him often in the top 10 and maybe sometimes in the top 5. At 29 he’s perhaps the best Toprak ever in terms of mind and body; I think he can easily make the difference."

"For me he can do very well, obviously within the limits of the Yamaha. Still, I think the M1 has more potential than we’ve seen. There will be a Quartararo–Razgatlioglu dualism and it will be interesting to see how the situation evolves. Competition can push riders beyond the limit of the bike itself".

"There’s no information of any kind. Surely they plan to keep Superbike and to promote it, but there are no specific indications. For the moment, everything remains as it is. After all, the acquisition was completed in July and I think we’ll understand their intentions better during 2026. As far as I know, there are no plans to sell Superbike; the goal is to make it grow".